Requiem of the Dark Realm
by Eduardo Amador Amazonas
Summary: Yoshi finds the Mushroom Kingdom in chaos after he return from his home. Many allies, especially the Mario Bros., Toad and Peach are now missing, and the Koopa Troop is annihilated. Yoshi must now travel around the known Mushroom World, recruiting friends and allies, before venturing into far away lands unknown to the Mushroom Kingdom. Who or what is the cause of this catastrophe?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"King Bowser!" yelled Wendy as Bowser was chucked with great might at the wall in the end of the throne room. The force also sent a nearby Lemmy flying at a nearby pillar and fell unconscious on some debris. Roy lay bruised and defeated near the entrance, and Iggy hung over his destroyed contraption. Ludwig held on his injured left shoulder, while a rumbling voice declared, "Your weak leader was no match for me and is out cold, and all of your armies are like nothing. Stop resisting, young Koopa, and join me. Your talents will be better used to the maximum under my leadership."

Just as he finished, Bowser Jr. rushed in with a giant Bowser cannon, and lit up a match. A green beam of energy shot at Bowser Jr. before he could ignite the weapon, injuring him and rendering the weapon useless.

The unknown being in a mantle walked over to Bowser while saying to the unconscious Koopa, "I made you an offer I was sure you wouldn't refuse. And it was a good, shall we say, ransom, too. So that wasn't enough, huh?" He says to everyone else, "Listen, all of you Koopalings! I need your strength, and I kindly request to not refuse my offer. Sadly, one of you is missing, but we'll manage without him. Here are my terms..."

Larry charged at him and jumped, ready to strike him with one of Bowser's baseball bats. The being only poked Larry's forehead and knocked him out. The being reached where Bowser's unconscious body lay and held out an arm, still draped in the cloak. A violet ray emanated, and began transforming Bowser. Wendy shrieks and passes out. Ludwig watches in horror as Bowser slowly turns into a marionette, with two large puppet crosses forming beside his mute, wooden body.

Lemmy was slowly getting up, as the caped being said, "If you want this Koopa back, the same who disowned you as family, join me and my generals, and we will conquer the entire Mushroom World."

Ludwig began to sweat; a lost look took over his face. He stammered, "I… I… can't… I…"

"We will join you, your majesty," replied Lemmy, whose voice became unrecognizably deep. His eyes no longer revealed a crossed-eyed gaze of a clown, but a sinister, blue hue covered the entire eye.

Ludwig stared at his once goofy brother. Concerned for what happened, he thought to himself, 'Why now? Out of any possible time, why has this side of Lemmy emerged, like it did many years ago?' He shot a deathly glare at the person. 'This guy… it must have been! But, I can't take them both on in this weakened state.' He closes his eyes and grins smugly. 'I have no choice then, do I?'

Ludwig kneels, and having now opened his eyes at the being, calmly replies, "What are your wishes, sir?"


	2. The Ball

**The Ball**

_One week before the defeat of the Koopa Troop, Princess Peach invited all the monarchs from the Mushroom World to attend the Mushroom Kingdom's Ball, the Star Gala, making some sort of truce. Bowser, of course was invited as well. He wore his iconic white tux from a previous ceremony. Bowser Jr. wore a similar outfit. Wendy wore a red furisode with golden designs, Lemmy and Larry wore formal vests, Roy wore a khaki suit and black turtleneck, and Iggy wore a plaid suit and an unbuttoned white shirt. Ludwig was clad in a concert tux, but he sat on a sofa, seemingly upset. Bowser and Bowser Jr. are a bit far off, putting the final touches to their apparel._

_"Looking sharp like your dad!" said Bowser as he complimented Bowser Jr._

_Ludwig lets out a disillusioned sigh. He cannot hide the deep resentment he had recently taken in. Iggy goes toward his older brother and leans on Ludwig's right shoulder._

_"Color me nosey, but aren't we going to a ball? You're playing with the orchestra. Why the [snorts] long face?"_

_"Not now, Iggy. Your mad genius cannot comprehend the peril of this predicament."_

_"Big deal, Luddy. So, dad has a favorite. And, Morty got banished. We finally get to go with dad to an important event…"_

_Ludwig tries to remain calm as he irritably replies, "So, saying we're no longer his family such a lightweight declaration? And yes, I am still furious that Morton hid his termite farm in my violin closet; those scamps ate my beloved viola. But as gawky and boisterous as he was, he is still family. Father… no, Lord Bowser, should have never divided us."_

_"Look. We got you another… whatever it was. I'm sure after this is all done, dad will think things and reconsider."_

_"Hope you're correct, Iggy."_

_Roy looks outside through a window of the castle. "Seems we iz hitchin' a ride on the Nimbus' Royal Bus 'stead of the Clown Car."_

_"I'm like soo tired of waiting," retorts Wendy._

_After the long ride to Peach's castle, they finally arrive. After landing, Ludwig had gone ahead through the servants' entrance. Toads at the palace gates greeted the Nimbus family, but coldly receive Bowser and company. Peach is seen greeting all of the guests. Nearby; Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and Toad are dressed formally and are having a friendly chat._

_"I heard Peach invited a shark king named Posei, from the underwater Same-Same Kingdom," said Daisy, "I never knew such a place existed!"_

_"His daughter, Princess Donna, came as well," added Toad, "They are outside in the castle fountain… No, wait. Is that King Posei with the orchestra?"_

_They all turn to see an upright whale shark of similar stature to the pirate Jonathan Jones, wearing a royal purple cape held by a badge with a shark insignia. He motioned Ludwig to the piano as he held an accordion._

_"Here's a waltz played in my kingdom's style." He proceeds to play his accordion._

_**watch?v=HkLb6ZsUkUw [link to music on profile]**_

_All of the guests were left speechless. Bowser was standing next to Peach while the music began playing. He clears his throat and gently extends his hand at her._

_"May I have the honor of this dance?"_

_Peach bit her lower lips, and tries to find Toadsworth, but silently complies. She was amazed at how well he waltzed, gracefully and naturally adapting to his step. They were joined by other couples, but they seemed to be the couple that made heads turn. Mario stood on the side disappointed that he didn't have the first dance with Peach. His left hand is grabbed by someone._

_"Dance with me," said a smiling Toadette. Mario smiles back and accepts._

_Bowser and Peach wowed the entire group of guests and servants. Their elegant performance was a spectacle no one expected from the Mushroom princess and the leader of the Koopa Troop. For a rare instance, she felt comfortable near him, as one would be near friends._

_"I must admit, you're not so scary when you dance," declared Peach as they waltzed, "You're actually very good. We should have balls more often."_

_The last statement made Bowser blush. Bowser thinks while looking at Peach in his arms, 'I could get used to this. Good thing Ludwig taught me this posh crap. Peach down; kingdom next.'_

_The dance went on until the end of the piece, which was marked by a short and quirky rift. The crowd broke into applause. Toadofsky, the orchestra's director, congratulated both Ludwig and King Posei. King Posei had the urge to return to the fountain, and left the orchestra to continue playing throughout the rest of the ball. The remainder of the night was filled with fireworks, dance, Hors d'oeuvres, and laughs. After many hours, the guests were sent their ways, and Princess Peach went to her chambers. Little did she know that someone had waited patiently and quietly in the shadows of the bedroom, ready to take her hostage._

-O-

**A/N: _'Same'_ [SAH-meh] is Japanese for shark. The names _Posei_ and _Donna_ come from _Poseidon_. ****Music used belongs to their respective owners.**


	3. Morning Furls the Mushroom Woes

**Morning Furls the Mushroom Woes**

_The next morning after the ball…_

_A Paratroopa with an orange shell with three diagonal blue stripes arrives at Mario's Pad and accidentally drops the Mario Bros.' delivery._

_"Oh boy, not again," said the clumsy Paratroopa named Paraklutz, a newly recruited postman famed for delivering items damaged due to his clumsiness. "I hope the new Postmaster doesn't find out again." After nervously placing his hand next to his mouth, he nervously mutters, "Um, uh… Ma-ma-mail call." With that, he flies to the next house._

_This time, Mario goes out to pick up the mail, including the just-delivered package. He is flipping though the mail while walking back inside his pad. Luigi sat before their computer, immersed in a chat. Mario proceeds to sit down at the kitchen table and checks the entire delivery, while enjoying a breakfast of milk and donuts._

_He thinks, 'A thank you note from the a-Princess, a postcard… no two, from a-Kooper and Goombario, letters from a-Luigi's fan girls… [After eyeing the packet for a bit] Let's a-see the packet.'_

_He opens the packet while he sipped some milk, but then spits it back out; he face palms. Luigi turns around with the computer swivel chair. The computer screen displays a log-in window._

_"I got some 300 spam messages. Don't you hate it when you get spam in your mailbox?"_

_"Oh yeah," replied Mario while revealing six cans of Spam, "Who a-keeps sending this to us?"_

_Luigi shakes his head chuckles. "That's the third time this week. Anyway, just talked to Yoshi, bro. He is coming back next week after the games in Dinosaur Land are over. I wish we could have gone; Isle Delfino plays against Vanilla Dome tomorrow."_

_"Eh, Luigi," interrupted Mario, "Some 'Octetos' a-sent us an old book. Smells a-musty."_

_Luigi takes it. He stands and yawns while stretching his body. "I am still pooped from yesterday's party, so I'll just go back to the room and read this old thing."_

_"See ya," said Mario as Luigi left the kitchen with the relic and a couple of donuts._

_Mario gets comfortable, sorting through the mail. 'News about my pirate pal Johnny; I a-wonder what's he up to… huh?' He sees another letter from Peach. However, the envelope it lacks the usual pink colored hue and gold letters. He opens it and strangely finds a normal white paper instead of the customary refined paper Peach usually used. He reads the note:_

_Hey Mario, _

_Come to the castle, by the bridge going to Shooting Star Summit. I'll be waiting. Oh, and don't tell anyone. __Bye!_

_Toadstool_

_Mario feels confused and uneasy about the request, but shrugs off the worst. He grabs a Fire Flower and dashed out the door to the pipe connecting his pad to Toad Town._

_Meanwhile, Luigi kicks off his boots and slumped on the lower bunk. He removes his hat and flings it over the dresser, and unbuttons his right overall buckle._

_He thinks as he opens the antiquated book, 'Hopefully Mario doesn't find out that…' but he couldn't finish that thought, because a large being, seemingly released from its hardbound prison, overshadowed the green-clad plumber, rendering him frightfully mute. This creature hastily charged at Luigi and…_

_..._

_Around the same time, Toad is gardening at Tayce T.'s backyard. Being helpful by nature, and interested in seeing her culinary skills on his day off from the castle, he speedily pull out carrots in hopes for enjoying a delicious and buttery carrot cake dressed with almonds bits and delicately sweet frosting._

_She was fixing a blueberry pancake breakfast for him, and smelling the tantalizing aromas made his work enjoyable. And… was she brewing fresh syrup to compliment? He dreamily looks at the garden, and snaps out of his trance. Only two more carrots were left._

_"Yahoo! Almost done!" he cheerfully exclaims._

_He grabs the basket holding all the carrots collected so far. He plucks one out with his signature veggie picking speed and chucks it inside the basket. He goes for the other, but it seems harder to pull than the rest. He keeps yank at it until his face resembles the nearby tomatoes. As Toad nearly pulls out the entire carrot, the vegetable forcibly goes back underground and takes a confounded Toad with it. A few minutes pass, and Tayce T. walks out to her backyard._

_"Toad, come inside and wash your hands. Breakfast is… Toad? Where'd he go?" She only sees an upturned basket and carrots littering the ground, but no Toad._

_..._

_A few moments later, in a remote alley behind Peach's castle, Mario is leaning against the wall badly beaten and panting deeply. Two figures approached and blocked his only exit, knowing he had no chance of escaping, even by wall kicks. The sun cast its light so that Mario could only see two shadowy complexions. He tries to yell for help, but no sound came out._

_"Cut the drama, dude," uttered one of the creatures, "Thanks to my newly learned Gunk Ball, you can't talk for a while or even use your special moves."_

_"Ssso, the jumping hero of the Mushroom Kingdom isss cornered between a wall and a hard placcce," stated the other, "We got the Princesss lasst night, and when we catch you, our plan to take over the Mushroom world will comenccce sssoon."_

_One of them emits a hazy smokescreen, covering all three. The sound of struggling is heard for a while, but stops abruptly. Mario's gloved hand falls out of the range of the smoke, and is swiftly pulled back in._

-O-

**A/N: **_**Gunk Ball **_**is a special move from **_**Super Mario RPG**_**.**


	4. What is going on?

**What is going on?**

It's ten days after the Star Gala Ball. Yoshi is heading back from his home in Yoshi's Island to the port in Toad Town, riding on the back of a whale. The sun is shining in its full power amidst the scattered clouds, and the sea breeze whistled throughout the oceanic expansion, mixing its salty scent with that of the sweet tropical fruits Yoshi brought back with him. He is smiling while he munched on a melon.

When he caught sight of the distant port, he thinks, 'Can't wait to see Mario and Luigi again. They'll love the coconuts I brought them. [Sighs] Luigi is going to be disappointed we lost to Isle Delfino.' He sees the silver trophy in his hands and remembers his conversation with his acquaintance Boshi.

...

_Two days ago…_

"_Second place isn't so bad, Boshi," said Yoshi in the Yoshi language as he lay on his hammock at his house. He was snacking on a watermelon._

"_Fo' losers, it ain't!" retorted Boshi, who was leaning on the palm holding the hammock, "Dem Isle Delfino 'Shis got lucky dis time."_

"_You mean, they got us good."_

"_Shaddup! Yous got yo' tail handed to ya skinny dipp'n…"_

"_Swimming," interrupted Yoshi as he munched another watermelon._

"_Whatever. And I… AAAARRRGG! I lost at the rock climb'n! Oh, but dey got them days counted. I challenged them pansies to sum' games in the winter."_

_When Yoshi heard that, __he nearly __choked on the last slice of watermelon . "N-n-next winter?" he stammered, "That's in six months! We don't have the right conditions to train. It's summer."_

_Boshi clenched his fist and hits the palm next to him, causing the hammock spin, trapping Yoshi inside it. It spun back and tossed him on the floor. _

_Boshi exclaimed, seething in anger, "Yous ain't never understand what dis meant fo' me! Dey gots everythin'; I nevah had nothin'! It wuz a chance fo' sumthin' new." He sighs as he leaves, but then stops to say, "I iz leaving 'Shi's Islan' to train. Peace out, yo." _

_Yoshi silently meditates as Boshi leaves on a solo journey._

_..._

_Present time…_

Yoshi shakes his head. 'Boshi has always been rash. But he's right. I need some training too. And what better training than with the Mario Bros… Right after I eat some of Tayce T.'s cookies.'

The whale speeds up a bit, Toad Town Port some nautical miles ahead. As they near the port, lively music is heard, and a festival seemed to have been set up.

'Strange,' thought Yoshi, 'I'm pretty sure the carnival was in 2 weeks.'

He lands and thanks the whale. Then, he asks a random Toad about the commotion.

"You haven't heard, bro? The Shuguys got stonified! No more Shyguy thieving anymore! And the Snifits, Birdos, and Bob-ombs are stony too. YAAHOOOOO!" The random Toad runs off to a group of Toads.

That left Yoshi with more questions than answers. He pressed on to Tayce T.s, pushing his way through the ecstatic crowd of Toads, doogans, and few Beanish people. He stood afar from Tayce T.'s in disappointment; her kitchen was busier than a freeway during rush hour. With no hope of getting cookies soon, he walks toward the post office near the castle gates. To his astonishment, some Toads were braying at the gates, and seemed to be overjoyed to have the need to take it to the castle courtyard. A unknown great resistance met them from the other side.

Yoshi is then surprised by a hand on his right shoulder. It was a jittery Paratroopa he'd never seen before. This orange and blue shelled Paratroopa nervously looks to both sides, and tremblingly motions Yoshi into the Post Office. Once inside, he is greeted by a confident voice of someone familiar.

"Well, if it isn't my friend's best pal, Yoshi!"

Still uneasy about what he'd just witnessed, he disconcertedly responds, "Yeah, that's me, but who are… Parakarry?"

The last times Parakarry was seen, he was a bit of a coward, disorganized, and quite clumsy. But now, he looked like a new Paratroopa: sporting shades instead of his old goggles, a more confident attitude while retaining his courteous manners, and an epaulet with the Postal Services insignia on his left arm. Ever since a couple of months ago, Parakarry succeeded the former Postmaster as the new postmaster.

"At your service! What can I do for the best friend of Mario?"

"Um, I already got my mail back home, so… who's that dude?" asked Yoshi, pointing at the other Paratroopa.

Parakarry laughs heartily, surprising Yoshi and scaring the aforementioned Paratroopa. "Him? He's Paraklutz, Koops' para-cousin. We just hired him about a month ago. Doesn't he just make you laugh?"

Yoshi sweatdrops. "So he's the famous Parakarry Two I heard about while at the games?"

Parakarry laughs even more while face palming and grabbing his belly. "He's that famous already? He'll probably make new Postmaster in record time!"

"Yeah, right…" Yoshi nervously replies, "So, what about the ruckus around town? What's that about?"

Parakarry lightly smiled but stopped laughing. Beneath that face, one could tell he was going to be serious. "Come," he tells Yoshi, "Let's talk in my office. Paraklutz, can you take over for me for a bit?"

"A-a-are you sure?" asked Paraklutz.

Parakarry smugly looks back at him, silently telling him to do as he was told. Paraklutz trips into place as Parakarry shows Yoshi towards his new office. Once there, Parakarry pushed his seat from its place and removed the carpet. With now a strength that matched his new persona, he lifted a lifeless thwomp, revealing a secret passage.

"Follow me this way; it'll take us to the castle's kitchen. Once we get there, we go see Toadsworth. He'll fill you in on the matters on hand. Let's make haste."

Yoshi follows Parakarry inside, both disappearing into the cavern's darkness.

-o-

**A/N: 'Shis is Boshi's way of saying Yoshis in the story, in case anyone asks.**


	5. A Dinosaur's Lone Journey

**A Dinosaur's Lone Journey**

Once Yoshi and Parakarry traversed the underground passageway, Yoshi nose whacked a vent out of its place. And just like Parakarry said, they entered the five-star kitchen of Peach's castle. Yoshi remembered about his fruit he was carrying, so he left it there and headed out to the second floor along with Parakarry. When they opened the door, an eerie stillness of the usually upbeat and live palace embraced them. A great commotion was heard coming from the castle gate's direction.

Up the stairs they went, and pushed the doors open; the formerly lavish and dazzling castle hall is now a forlorn and unlit room. Toadsworth is looking out the window, witnessing the Toad guards and two others trying to keep the gates closed. He then hangs his and shakes head as he sighs in deep disappointment. Yoshi couldn't help but catch this gloominess himself, but musters the strength to approach the saddened Chancellor. Toadsworth turns and nearly gets teary eyed when he sees Yoshi and Parakarry there.

"Yoshi!" he said with a lightly broken voice, "Seeing the last of the kingdom's heroes here gives me a sliver of hope that everything will go back as it was."

"Mr. Toadsworth," started Yoshi, "What has happened? Did Bowser do this? Where are Mario and Luigi?"

Toadsworth shrugs and shakes his head, while letting his arms drop. "We don't know much either, and I'm sorry to say that, young one. The morning after the ball, I went to the Princess' room for her morning tea, but she didn't answer my call. After a couple of minutes, I barge in and…" He sheds some tears. "She was gone. All I saw was an unsigned note saying the Mushroom World was going to be conquered…" He then sobs into his arm. "We failed to protect the princess!"

Parakarry hears some footsteps behind him and turns. A shadowy figure approaches, and once it came into view, it is revealed to be Professor E. Gadd. He is sporting his usually goofy grin, and is carrying an assortment of objects as well.

"I'll take it from here, Chancellor." He nears the green dinosaur and sets everything on the velvet carpet nearby. "Not only has Peach been abducted, the Mario Bros. and even Toad were kidnapped! A week after the ball, the entire world was shocked to hear that the Koopa Troop was demolished. And the next day, my radar picked up an unusual frequency, which seems to be the cause of petrifaction in some of the world's creatures."

Parakarry interjects, "We thought the commotion of the Princess being gone, along with the other news would surely bring uproar to Toad Town. And it did; the Toads now seem to be thrown into a partying frenzy, and they could care less that they are gone. I'd go and search, but I must run the Postal services."

"And I must continue to research the strange phenomenons that are occurring," responder E. Gadd, "So, I give you these." He picks up a plastic jar, a gray suitcase resembling Stuffwell, and a contraption resembling a Wii U.

"This suitcase is my latest traveling commodity: Stuffwell version 2.0. In this, you can keep at least 100 things of any size inside. I'm not certain if you can put any more, though. This [pointing at the device in his right hand] is a Wii Me. It contains DNA samples of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad. Whenever you get close to any of them, a beeper will ring, and the closer you are, the more frequently it beeps. And my latest and best scientific creation [picks up the jar]: Yoshi vitamins."

Yoshi became almost as intrigued as when he smells cookies. The Professor continues, "These Yoshi-only assorted chewables give you the fabled powers of different colored Yoshis. For example, eating the pink chewable made from Dash Pepper will transform you into a pink Yoshi. It will make you twice as fast, but diminishes your accuracy and overall power. I enclosed a manual listing the many flavors you have at your disposal, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Also, each pill lasts for about half an hour or until you eat another. Think everything through before consuming some, okay?"

"Thank you," said Yoshi as he reads the manual, and picks a blue vitamin out of the jar.

"Be careful, young one," said Toadsworth, "Please go to the distant Sarasaland and find Princess Daisy. She should be able to help."

Parakarry pulls out from his satchel a bag of coins and a couple of letters, and hands them to Yoshi. "I kindly ask of you to deliver these. One is for Daisy, and the other is… well, I don't know where to find the guy, but if you do, please give him the letter. Here are also some coins for your travels. Good luck and farewell."

Yoshi puts his new belongings into Stuffwell 2.0. He mumbles, "Hope this works," and eats the blue chewable. His green skin becomes dark blue and he sprouts some wings. Following his transformation, he says, "Not bad, professor."

Toadsworth sighs again. "Sorry to burden you like Mario, but please, find everyone, and beat this new menace."

Yoshi walks toward the window and opens it. He looks back and gives them thumbs up. "Don't worry, we'll find them." He leaps into the sky and flies to Sarasaland. Deep inside, however, Yoshi felt very uneasy.

'Where will I find even one of my friends? Who is responsible for this catastrophe? How can I defeat the one who defeated Bowser and his army? Should I search the entire Mushroom World? Even if I try, will it be too late?' Unable to appease his thoughts, he dashed in direction to Sarasaland.

-o-

**A/N: Think of the interior of the castle as it is in Paper Mario [64]. The real journey begins!**


	6. Destination: Chai

**Destination: Chai**

Yoshi gazed past the window of a bullet train at the scenic paradise of Easton, a kingdom of the realm of Sarasaland, en route to the seat of the entire realm, Chai. Yoshi became overwhelmed by awe as he enjoyed the ancient Moai lining the vast Easton's plains and the Batadons flying freely in the noon skies from inside the modern transport.

Yoshi thinks, 'Princess Daisy has sure done a bit. I remember Mario's story about this place, but it has changed a lot.' He saddens a bit when he remembers Mario. He slumps into his seat. 'I must hurry to Daisy to save Mario and the others. But I need rest.' He sighs. 'The past two days were brutal…'

...

_A couple of days ago…_

_Yoshi, still powered by the blue vitamin, dashed across the night skies of the kingdom of Grass Land. After passing the grassy expansion, he sees a craggy, mountainous, uninhabited wasteland; he lands on the edge of a butte. The sun has finally set, and an eerie breeze whistled throughout the lonely region. _

'_Great!' Yoshi thought as tries to inspect the area, 'I'm pretty sure Sarasaland is a couple of days north of Grass Land, but I can't see much. Let's see, what did Mario say that one time around the campfire…? He said he followed a red star until he reached a desert full of goomba things and pyramids, all past an uncharted mining town in the middle of nowhere.'_

_He surveys the skies, and spots a faint red light amongst the pitch blackness of the night. The cold wind howled once more, the chill sending shivers up Yoshi's spine. He presses forward and jumps off to the precipice. He didn't notice that the transformation wore off when he landed, so he plummeted like an anvil. __Confused with the turn of events and on the spur of the moment, he opens Stuffwell 2.0, and manages to take the vitamin jar out without spilling the contents. He gets a bluish chewable out and gulps it down. _

_To his surprise, instead of sprouting wings, his entire body with the exception of his limbs inflate triple in size. His now contoured, balloon body slowly floats up from the dark abyss. _

_After floating up to a__ better lit area, he sees floating spore-like entities approching at a walking pace. After squinting at them for a better look, his eyes widen and tries flapping his now stubby arms and legs to try escape the approaching menace._

'_I thought fuzzies only lived in my home island!' thought Yoshi as he struggled to escape, but to no avail._

_Another untimely breeze blew the fuzzies close in mere seconds. One of those floats to Yoshi's side._

_Yoshi tries to yell, "Go away!" H__owever, a__ small stream of air leaves his body, shrinking it a bit. Realizing this, he covers his mouth while profusely sweating at the two fuzzies created from the one split in two by Yoshi's air. Then, both make contact._

_To Yoshi's surprise, neither pops and creates a psychedelic rainbow illusion, but bounces off his gelatinous belly. Relieved, Yoshi presses forward, constantly blown off course by the sporadic winds. Eventually, his transformation conveniently stops by an empty cave on the cliff where he spends the night._

_The next morning, he leaves and reaches the mining town, but finds an abandoned slum. After finding a few useful things, he continues. Eventually, he reaches Birabuto, Sarasa Land's sandy kingdom. And from there, he transverses Muda and reached a new modern port on Easton's coast._

_..._

_Present time…_

A female voice came from the speakers. "Five minutes to the next stop at the base of Chai."

'That's my stop,' thought Yoshi as he readies Stuffwell 2.0. Before closing it, he reads the manual for the Yoshi Vitamins:

_Dark blue vitamins made from blue berries and blue Koopa shell extract. __Sprouts wings for flight, but once in air, don't land or the transformation ends._

_Light blue vitamins, made from blimp berries. __Inflates body like a balloon, bouncy enough to repel any object. Don't talk or blow air!_

'Just wonderful,' he thought as he pouted and looked away, 'Well, better knowing late than never. But I'd better hurry; I need Daisy's help, and my friends can not wait.'

...

Around the same time, Lemmy, Ludwig, and three other unknown entities walk out of Merlon's house in Toad Town and greet Iggy, Wendy, Roy, Larry, and Bowser Jr., who are waiting by the town's news board. All 10 are wearing blue robes with a Toad cap design to blend in the absentminded crowd.

"With Merlon done with," stated Lemmy in his sinister voice, "All we need to do is attack Shooting Star Summit."

"The boss also marked 8 for abduction," said one of the three unknown guys. He sounds like a stereotypical Italian mobster. "Ludwig, you got this, Wiseguy?"

"Naturally," Ludwig replies, "Larry, depart to Goomba Village at the occident. Roy, to Koopa Village in the orient. Iggy, give the Postmaster our candid salutations, if you will. The rest of us march to Shooting Star Summit" He turns away and chuckles. "I wish to no longer delay my latest modus operandi."

"Yesssss, let'ssss go," another mystery guy said. With this, they all depart to their respective assignments, blending into the party crazed crowd.

-o-

**As Yoshi learns more about Prof. E. Gadd's newest concoction and travels the world, the Koopalings and their allies have made their moves. Who's their leader, and what are they up to? Next chapter: Iggy versus the new Postmaster, Parakarry! **


	7. The Final Flight of the Parakoopa

**The Final Flight of the Parakoopa**

Iggy lingered by the toppled castle gate, as everyone else went their ways. He sat next to the wall of Merlon's house while he indifferently watched the Toads and doogans have a dance off. Suddenly, his ADHD meds wore off, and slowly regained his maniacal persona. First his claws, then a tapping foot, and then he found himself yelling crazily and cackling loudly near the Post Office's door.

Parakarry was finishing the day's paperwork at his desk, a dim lamp lighting the room. He waited for Paraklutz to return from a delivery to Shiver City. He starts to hear the commotion of a madman outside, but ignores it. After a while, he has had enough, so he leaves his shades on his desk and goes outside to deal with the noisy fellow.

Once out, he sees Iggy break dancing in the middle of a crowd of cheering Toads. He pushed his way in; Iggy sees him and stops dancing, laughing loudly as a maniac.

"HA, HA, HA, HA, HA! So you've come! Luddy and the others say hiii!"

Parakarry, although confused, confronts him. "A postman's job is never done, even this late in the afternoon. What is it that you need so badly?"

Iggy pulls out his scepter and swings it around while skipping in place. "Luddy needs a guinea pig, and he chose YOU! OOOOH, LIKE A POKÉMON!"

Parakarry was even more confused, and thought, 'I don't know what's more disturbing: what these guys will do with me, or this guy off his meds.'

He pulls out his goggles he used to wear from the satchel on his back. After putting them on, he is shocked to see a trawl net heading for him. He narrowly dodges by flying, causing the net to catch a random onlooker. Parakarry looks back at Iggy, who mockingly smacks his own butt. Seeing that Iggy had no intention of letting him go, he silently flies up to the clouds above Toad Town.

As he speeds to safer heights, he spots Iggy trailing him on a jetpack. Iggy flails his wand, and shoots his signature lime green fireball. Parakarry expertly dodges, and continues to dodge the barrage of fireballs Iggy unleashes.

Once at a certain distance, Parakarry stops and faces his rival. Iggy raises his wand while making a demented face; a red fireball with two smaller lime green ones encircling it slowly grew at the scepter's gem. Parakarry rushes at Iggy's head and does multiple Sky Dive kicks on it. The kicks made Iggy retreat into his shell, and the fire attack was flung at the distance, exploding like a firework. Iggy, however, pops out unscathed.

"You think jumping on my head'll work again? HA! HA! HA!"

Parakarry thinks as he retracts into his shell, 'True, you were already a nutcase before I kicked you.' He attempts his Shell Shot, but Iggy countered with well placed green fireball, causing Parakarry to spin out of his technique. Iggy flails the wand once more, this time being more fidgety than before.

"You want to know what I'll do, yeeees? What trick is up my sleeve, yeeees?"

Not wanting to find out, Parakarry retracts into his cyan shell again, and commences his Air Raid. Despite the speed of the attack, Iggy dodged the first couple strikes, but Parakarry didn't stop. He ricochets off a nearby cloud and narrowly misses Iggy, but steals his jetpack. A bit exhausted, he watches the demented Koopa fall to his doom beneath the clouds. A couple seconds later, a green flash shone from underneath.

Night had finally fallen, so Parakarry begins his descent while catching his breath. A bright blue flash radiates from behind him; he looks at its direction. From his place in the sky, he sees Star Haven, up in flames and tiny explosions at random places. Despite his weariness, he decides to rush over there.

Suddenly, he is surrounded by a sandstorm and plasma bits. Illusions of his former fear of Tubba Blubba appear, and that fear slowly takes hold of his heart, almost as if reverting him to his former self. He begins to shake uncontrollably, and grabs the sides of his head, nearly dropping the jet pack. His pupils shrink into a small dot, and his ocular veins bulge almost to a rupturing point. A familiar cackle rings through his head; he looks to the sides, then down.

Iggy flew back up on the back of a Bahamutt, accompanied by the dreaded chest enemy Chester. Chester had just unleashed its Sandstorm in combination with its inner tan Ameboid's Psycho Plasm. Iggy seems to pleasure in Parakarry's frightful state.

"FEAR, I SEE! GROW MORE AFRAID! SHED SOME TEARS! LET THE WORLD SEE YOUR PATHETIC STATE OF DREAD AND PANIC! A HA! HA! HA! HA!"

Parakarry can only look back at his mocking enemy, speechless. He thinks, 'What's wrong with me? The old me I discarded so long ago, why is he back? The longer I stay like this, the more terrified I become! I'll soon end up a nut job like him if I don't do something fast! Wait! I have that thing Kooper gave me in my pack!'

Trembling, he reaches for his satchel and pulls out a metallic canister. His constant shaking made opening it difficult. Once open, he chugs the greenish content, some of the liquid running down his Koopa beak onto his uniform. Little by little, the exaggerated shaking ceased, leaving only Parakarry panting deeply and drenched with sweat.

With now a clear mind, he furrowed his brows. 'I see. Iggy can now summon monstrous things on a whim, and a good choice too. He may be a psychopath, but no doubt is he smart.'

Iggy declares in a crazed pomposity from the flying Bahamutt's back, "You still want more after that? TAKE THIS!"

He shakes the wand and pops a Thunder Bolt item from thin air, and throws it inside Chester. With all the strength he could muster, Parakarry flaps his wings vigorously enough to create a sonic boom. Having anticipated such a reaction, Iggy forms the same red fireball attack and launches it; Chester opens itself slightly and releases its Flame Wall. The attacks from both sides clash and explode with smoke, flashing, and colorful pizzazz. A cheer came from Toad Town's onlookers, thinking it was a fireworks' show.

Parakarry decides to flee with Iggy's jetpack still in hand. Chester had the Bolt inside its inner Ameboid's mouth, and made it spit it at Parakarry's direction. As it's about to make contact, Iggy sinisterly grins.

For Parakarry, time seemed to slow down as he desperately tries to escape the lost match. He felt the slowing of his flapping wings the closer the Bolt neared the paratroopa. Surprisingly, it barely misses, and Parakarry sighs in relief. He looks back and finds that Iggy's sinister smile turn into a horrifying cackle.

He can not believe his eyes when he looks at the jetpack; two mechanical hands protrude from the sides, one with the Bolt in hand, the other holds a walkie talkie. Iggy's voice emits from the speakers.

"YOU THOUGHT I WOULD ESCAPE, HUH? HERE'S MY PARTING GIFT, THEN! HA, HA! LIGHTNING BOOOOLT!"

Bolts from many nearby clouds shot at the Bolt item, hitting Parakarry in the process. Once the item ran out of juice, a charred Parakarry floated for a bit, and then slowly falls. Burnt feathers fly off his wings. Iggy goes in and has Bahamutt catch him in its claws, and heads toward Shooting Star Summit. As he loses consciousness, Parakarry thinks, "He, he; I left that bone head alone to look after the Office. Paraklutz, run it… in my... place…" He blacks out.

-o-

**A/N: Chapter a bit longer than normal. Bahamutt, Chester, and their attacks are from _Super Mario RPG_. See you next chapter!**


	8. A Dream that will Never Be

**A Dream that will Never Be**

_Moments before Iggy's and Parakarry's scuffle, Kooper gleefully conversed with Bombette inside his house at Koopa Village. She married Bruce a while back, who sat on the hammock as he fed his two baby Bob-omb kids._

"So, rumors about a new railroad to Desert Hill was true?"

Bombette chuckled. "Oh, Kooper! That was about three months ago! We both grew tired of all the fuss, so Bruce and I decided to come back and settle down for a bit. How you've been?"

Kooper breathes deeply and closes his eyes while sighing. He couldn't contain excitement in his bowels. "I'm in!"

"Really? You got accepted into the University of Goom to study archaeology? Wow!"

"I know, right?" he replied ecstatically, "My mom left a while ago, but she was thrilled when she heard the news! I honestly thought I wasn't going to make it…"

"Not make it?!" interrupted Bombette, "Don't be modest! After traveling with Mario and Kolorado, you could bet your bottom blue coin that you were in for sure!"

Kooper looks down as he blushed. Bombette smiles as she speaks almost as if whispering, "Going out the village again, Kooper?"

"Guess so. You guys came at the right mome…" Kooper bites his lower lip, and looked away, appearing a bit sad. Bruce looks up from his present duty. "Actually, I need a favor you both, if you don't, uh, mind." Bombette silently looks back at her unpretentious friend. "Can you guys watch my house… and, uh backyard?"

Both Bob-obms appear depressed at the poignant reminder of the world's state of affairs. Bombette musters up the courage to reply, "Don't worry about a thing, Kooper. We know what happened to all the world's Bob-ombs. Probably because we got here through the warp pipe was why we didn't get turned into stone."

"I apologize for asking…"

"Kooper, it's okay. We should be thanking you for actually putting all out petrified friends in your backyard." She smiles as she tries to reassure her friend. "You go on and follow your dream. We'll wait for the day you walk with that diploma in you hand."

Bruce interjects, "And we promise your house will still be here and not a pile of ashes!"

All three shared a much needed laugh. After Kooper got his belongings, he bid his friends farewell. The rest of the village waited for him outside his house, some teary eyed, some jumping with joy. Kolorado's wife wipes some tears from her eyes as she gives a mug full of her special Koopa tea as a parting gift.

"It's a shame my husband is on his way to Subcon to research some of its ruins. I'm sure he would have been proud."

Touched, Kooper embraces her, making the entire village cheer. It was cut short, for the elder of the village, Koopa Koot, walked forward and rested the tip of his cane on Kooper's shoulder.

He said in his quivering and frail voice, "Kooper, sonny, can you do this old Koopa one favor?"

Kooper gulps as the village waits for a response. Tension rises as the awkward silence draws out.

The elderly Koopa got closer, and uttered through his senile wheezing, "Can… you make… this village proud?"

Kooper suddenly smiles and gives thumbs up. "You can count on me!"

The villagers cheer again, this time escorting him to the outskirts of the Village toward Plesant Path. Koopa Koots and Kolorado's wife stay back; for once the elder let go of his cankerous personality and bid a genuine farewell.

Kooper set forth toward Toad Town to wait for Goombario. After walking for a bit, he thinks as the sun is setting, 'I hope that ailment removing tea from Chai is helping Parakarry. I know I'll need it when I start coll… huh? What's that purple and pink lump?'

Kooper neared and recognized it as Roy's back. He lay in the middle of the road, lazily picking his teeth and nose, his cloak fluttering with the breeze on a nearby bush. He turns and sees Kooper, prompting him flick the booger on his claw elsewhere and lazily stand and face his opponent.

"Took you long enough. Saves me the trouble of findin' ya."

Kooper tries to plea with him. "Not now. I really need to go somewhere…"

"Okay, go ahead."

Kooper was shocked to find the manly pink Koopa so understanding. Kooper take a couple of steps forward, when Roy, with his muscular legs, jumps very high and ground pounds the area.

"PSYCHE!"

The tremors stopped Kooper in his tracks, and the shockwaves violently rattles every bone in his body. A nearby tree uprooted because of the quakes; Roy swings his right brawny forearm at the tree and hits it a good distance behind Kooper, destroying the bridge in the process.

Kooper falls on a knee and quivers while closing an eye. 'It feels like I've been on a jackhammer since was born. My entire body aches.'

"What's the matta, foo'? Ya ain't off the hook!"

Kooper slowly gets up, but can't stop shaking. He drops his belongings, and retracts into his deep blue shell. He does a Shell Toss in place, shooting the roads stones like bullets at Roy; his shell also went up in flames in preparation for his Fire Shell move. That counter attack was left unrealized, for Roy had summoned a Bullet Bill launcher as well as two P-Wings with his scepter. Roy aims, and with perfect shots, he counters with a few Bullet Bills. A couple blow up near Kooper, causing the fire to "cave in," severely burning him.

Kooper once more tried to stand, even in his weakened state. While he caught his breath on his hands and knees, he didn't see Roy use both P-Wings, sprouting four wings. Kooper then faced his enemy, but with blinding speed, Roy launches himself at Kooper and gives him a propelled upper cut to his abdomen, while he yells, "BOO YA!"

Some blood trickles from Kooper's mouth as he falls on his back. The last thing he sees is Roy walking over to him, and… he blacks out.

The moon shines upon Roy as he throws Kooper over his shoulder. A mob is rushing from Koopa Village to see what had happened at Pleasant Path.

Roy smirks. "That's whack! The po-po iz comin'. Time to dip." He jumps once more and dashes toward Shooting Star Summit.

-o-

**One battle down, another one to come. Later!**


	9. Birdies are da Bomb!

**Birdies are da Bomb!**

Goombario is rushing down the path toward Toad Town while munching on a slice of Nutty Cake. His family, along with the Dojo Master of Toad Town and his acolytes, gave Goombario a farewell party; he had been accepted into the Olympic Division of the University of Goom. He lost track of time, and dashed out the door after face faulting upon seeing the actual time. The sun is going to set in a few minutes, making Goombario break out in sweat.

'Kooper's gonna get mad at me! I don't wanna get him kicked outta archaeology department because of me. And we can't keep Parakarry waiting either; he was gonna fly us there with help of his stupid mailman Paraklutz. Ugh! He broke my special Mario action figure my dad bought me from the internet.'

He ponders on this as he (somehow) carries his belongings, and arrives at the ruins of King Goomba's fort. He looks ahead and shudders.

'I hate that bridge! It's so high up and walking on it makes my stomach turn.' He sighs. 'Oh, well. I have to cross it someday. Here go… huh? What's going on here?'

He sees Larry throwing a temper tantrum, and yelling at an evil Goomba pair. He is angrily waving a badminton racket, and the Goombas seem frustrated. The sun has already set.

"Stupid walking turds! I said don't swing hard. I only got two birdies left!"

One exasperatedly replies, "What do you expect? We don't have arms, and our jaws can't hold it!"

"I want my birdies back NOW!"

"Calm down, boy. We'll go." One said as they left, "Who spit in his Koopa flakes?"

Larry crossed his arms and drops onto the grass. He looks around and spots Goombario, who silently stares back. Larry grumpily stands and walks over.

"Can you help me?" he asks annoyed, "I am looking for a Goomba about this high [he stretches his arm about Goombario's height], wears a blue hat, and is a big tattle tale. Nobody here doesn't know him."

Goombario thinks about how to correct the double negative, but then angrily retorts, "I'M NOT A TATTLE…" He clears his throat. "That would be me."

Larry's face beams up, and he goes behind Goombario, pushing him toward the net.

"Yay, I found you! Can you play with me? Please, please, plesase…?"

Goombario, thought it was weird to be playing alone in such the slightly dangerous Goomba Path at night, but then again he was already late, and liked playing with others around his age.

'Kooper and Parakarry can go ahead without me. I mean, it's not like they're gonna get beat up or something.'

They both take their places, Goombario grabbing the other racket between his teeth. Larry takes out two birdies and is ready to serve.

"Want to play with two birdies?"

"Bween gut nn {Bring it on}!" replied Goombario with the racket in place.

Larry smugly smiles as he throws both birdies up and spins at extreme speeds. He hits both birdies, which zip past Goombario into a bush behind him. Goombario drops the racket and turns to find the birdies.

"I'll get 'em!"

He goes to the bush where they lodged and shook it here and there. The birdies land on his feet, but because of Larry's spinning move, they are revealed to be tiny canisters disguised as birdies. The odorless poison gas from the tiny container was already in the air. Goombario was slowly losing consciousness, and just as slowly, the poison was sapping him of his strength. Once the gas clears, Larry skips over to him and pulls out his wand.

Goombario glares back as Larry waves his wand around. He weakly says, "Cheater…," and then passes out.

Larry points his wand at Goombario; he slowly shrinks to half his size. The other two Goombas pop out from behind a rock and sprout their wings, and proceed to carry both Larry and the fallen Goomba.

"About time, Larry. I was getting a cramp from holding them in!"

Larry rambled on, ignoring the Paragoomba as it flew toward Shooting Star Summit. "I won! And I didn't have to do anything. Big bro Ludwig is going to be happy."

…

While Iggy, Roy, and Larry fought their respective battles; the other 3 Koopalings, Bowser Jr., and the three unknown beings had already reached Star Haven. Lemmy summoned a bomb at the entrance of the sanctuary, and blasts it open. While Bowser Jr. wrecks havoc outside, the six others barge in.

The one with the mobster accent shouts, "You two! Lemmy! Find the Star Cruiser! Wiseguy, you ready yet?"

He gets no answer. He looks to the side and sees Kalmar using Up and Away while Ludwig and Wendy both counter the sonar-like attack with their respective wand attacks. Skolar uses Star Storm and knocked off the Toad-like cape from the mobster's body. Lemmy summons a smoke bomb and launches it at the guy, exploding in time to cover him.

"Not bad, not bad at all. But defend yourself from this!"

He raised his two small, white hands above the smoke; a rumble is heard outside. Skolar attacks again with Star Storm, just as a giant Ztar breaks into the palace. Ludwig looks back as Wendy holds Kalmar back.

"Don Albino, attacking with Dark Star already, huh? Then I must follow suit." Ludwig flails his scepter as the two attacks collide over the Star Rod. The intensity is so great that both attacks explode along with the Star Rod, earning a shocked gasp from the star spirits.

Lemmy smiled. "Don Albino! The Star Cruiser was inside the Rod's pedestal. We can now go higher to Star Road."

With the smoke cleared, Don Albino is seen once more clad in his disguise. He, Lemmy, and the two others dash to the Cruiser and fly away in it en route to the legendary Star Road, leaving behind Ludwig, Wendy, and Bowser Jr.

Muskular and Klevar were about to chase Don Albino's group, when a bolt zips past them. They look back at Ludwig, pointing his smallest claw at them. All of the star spirits are horrified, for a large shadow lingered behind him, seemingly under Ludwig's control by the lightning strings that emanated from the tips of his Koopa claws.

Ludwig ominous gaze meets up with the appalled star spirits. He cackles. "Pursuing our allies? Quite wily, but you'll necessitate higher cunning prowess to get past me… and my newest toy."

-o-

**Who's this Don Albino? Next chapter finalizes the current battling blitz. Until next time!**


	10. The Summoning Revealed

**The Summoning Revealed**

_[Ludwig's flashback]_

_Four days before the assault of Star Haven, Ludwig, dressed in a clean lab coat, is in Iggy's lab, finishing an experiment. Iggy casually walks into his laboratory._

"_Luddy, there you are! Don Albino said the Master wanted to speak to us…" _

_He sees that Ludwig is still immersed in his work. He looks to the left and finds two unconscious Goombas strapped to the wall, a fully charged laser gun ready pointed at them. He looks right and finds a pile of Dry Bones' bones, littering the floor, another laser gun hovering over them. They didn't budge at all._

_Suddenly, Iggy's right eye become twitchy, and he starts tapping his left foot rapidly. Without having to look, Ludwig pulls a ADHD pill from his lab coat pocket and flicks it into Iggy's throat. Iggy returns to his calmer self after a few seconds. He scratches his head and juts his mouth to the left._

"_Luddy, what exactly are you doing in __**my**__ lab, when you got yours?"_

_Ludwig now turns and boastfully replies, holding a remote on his left hand, "It is fortunate that I possess an eccentric lunatic for a sibling, for it is at this laboratory of unorthodox and unfathomable analyses, that I can realize an unthinkable deed, never carried out in the yesteryears."_

"_So, what is this 'deed' you show off about?"_

_Ludwig turns and chuckles; he looks back at his brother. "Oh? Near my countenance and I shall enlighten you."_

_As Iggy steps closer to his brother, Ludwig presses a large red button on the remote, prompting a red beam of light to shoot at the Goombas. Slowly, they fade into the light; the other laser gun hovering over the pile of bones began shining a bright yellow hue. Ludwig sneers while pressing a green button next to the red one; the yellow light seemingly blasts the lifeless Dry Bones. The beam stops firing after a minute; that area of the lab becomes covered in smoke._

_When it clears, the pile of Dry Bones seemed to be unaffected except for a sizzling sound. Iggy disappointedly glares back at a content Ludwig._

"_Wowie, a dud!" Iggy retorts sarcastically._

_Ludwig furrows his brows, and slyly grins back at his skeptical brother. He lifted his left arm, lightning emitting from it._

"_Summon a pair of Koopatrols, if you will."_

_Iggy shrugs and complies. While he takes out his wand and flails it about to make the summon, Ludwig places his electrified left hand and floats it over the bones. Strands of his lightning power lunged down at the pile, causing a disturbance. As the air blows Ludwig's hair back, he slowly grins, exposing more of his Koopa teeth; the lightning caused two Dry Bones to fully form, a dark blue light coming from their eye sockets. He adds his now electrified right hand._

_As soon as Iggy summoned two Koopatrols by means of his scepter, Ludwig eagerly utters, preparing the Dry Bones puppets, "Stand aside, Iggy. You two, let us commence our sparring. En guardé!"_

_Both Koopatrols retract into their shells and do a Shell Toss move at the bony Koopa puppets. Ludwig thrusts his arms forward; the Dry Bones grow a pair of wings each and launch at the incoming spiky armored Koopas. They pull back their dry heads and head butt the Koopatrols. Iggy became wide-mouthed; both armored Koopas were spun out and bruised, for their hard armor was pulverixed by the Dry Bones' heads, their shells meeting a similar fate. Ludwig arrogantly sneers once more._

"_Ah, yes! Far more superior outcome that anticipated!"_

_Iggy tried recovering from his mute astonishment. He stammers, "Uh-uh-uh… Luddy! Th-that was incredible!"_

"_Naturally. I funneled the headbonking powers of Goombas into the Dry Bones' delicate craniums, at the cost of using up the entire genetic encompassment of the, shall we called them, guinea pigs." _

_Ludwig crosses his arms and closes his eyes. Lightning stops flowing from his hands, causing the Dry Bones to fall and clack on the floor, revealing once more their lifeless state. Ludwig cocks his head to the side, and looks at his tall sibling._

"_The Master can wait. I must endeavor this on a fallen dragon. Have Larry shrink the apparatus, and both of you, depart with me." He maliciously grins. "Let us voyage to Barrel Volcano."_

…

_[Back in current time, at Star Haven...]_

Ludwig is standing on top of Zombone, holding the lifeless dragon with the lightning strands. Zombone had just finished his Boulder attack. The seven star spirits lay across the destroyed sanctuary defeated. The ceiling had completely collapsed and there no longer was any trace the central pedestal. Wendy stood afar, flailing her scepter, while Bowser Jr. walked in, shrinking from his Giga form back to normal.

"And here I contemplated a real challenge," Ludwig pompously boasted.

He motions to both Wendy and Bowser Jr. to make their moves. As Bowser Jr. pulls out his paintbrush and runs toward the star spirits, Wendy launches a barrage of golden rings at all seven spirits. The rings pinned down the star spirits by their mid section. Then, Bowser Jr. paints a rectangular design on top of all the spirits. Just then, Lemmy, Don Albino and the other two returned from their mission.

"I sssee you're done sssuc-cccesssfully," one said.

"Zombone, huh? Nice choice, Wiseguy," added Don Albino.

Ludwig looks at them and nonchalantly replies, "I surmise you demolished the entirety of Star Road and appropriated the seven pieces."

"Of course, Ludwig," retorts Lemmy with his deep voice. He looks toward the charred star spirits, his eyes completely veiled by a blue light. "I see. I'll seal them off like Kammy did a while back."

Lemmy, with his wand on his right hand, flicks his right wrist. A fine dust pours over the fallen star spirits, turning the paint into a card, sealing them all.

When that finished, Iggy's crazy cackling is heard at the distance, along Larry's childish ranting; they arrive simultaneously. The four-winged Roy arrives next, and stomp lands while admiring the destruction approvingly. He tosses Kooper onto the rubble, Larry following suit with Goombario. Bahamutt holds onto Parakarry as Iggy continues to laugh manically.

"With this," Lemmy continues, "Wishes won't get in our Master's way. And Ludwig, your test subjects are already here. Can't wait to see what you'll do next." However they could, they all fly back to Bowser's castle.

-o-

**The assault to Star Haven and Star Road ends. Next time: Yoshi in Sarasa Land.**


	11. Night at an Inn in Chai

**Night at an Inn in Chai**

"What!? You mean, I must wait until tomorrow morning?" cried Yoshi.

It is the same night of the fall of Star Haven. Yoshi had just finished climbing the rugged mountain leading into Chai. He arrived outside Princess Daisy's castle walls, but is promptly stopped by a yellow pianta chancellor. Instead of the usual tropical appearance, this pianta man has a cheery blossom branch protruding from his head, and dons an orange and gold ancient Chinese magistrate outfit.

"My apologies for such an inconvenience, Yoshi," replied the pianta chancellor, "But it is a Sarasaland tradition that no guests can be let inside the castle during the night. Please, I will accommodate you in a nearby inn, at our expense."

Yoshi sighs and drops his shoulders. He reluctantly agrees and walked over to a two-story, imperial-esque looking building a small distance south. He is greeted by an elderly green Birdo clad in a red dress and bow, who warmly welcomes her guest. She puts a cerulean colored, simple kimono over his shoulders and leads him to a dining room.

Hand drawn pictures of cherry trees and the cascades of the craggy Chai mountainside decorate the dining room. Three lanterns decorated with light orange daisies lit the room. A low-lying wooden table surrounded by black floor mats was the center piece of the hall. A pot of Chai tea brewed in the corner, a top some low heat coals inside a hearth.

The room, coupled with the comfortable silk kimono, makes Yoshi feel very cozy. The elderly green Birdo motions Yoshi to a floor mat near the warm hearth. She bows at the Sarasaland chancellor and shows him to a mat across Yoshi's.

She calls in the resident cook; a red, angry-looking, lash-less Birdo sporting a chef's hat and apron walked in with the most tantalizing banquet, the aromas quickly filling the room and Yoshi nose. His stomach grumbled loudly, making the green Birdo chuckle and the red Birdo scowl. The angry red Birdo places the exquisite dinner of Koopasta, a fish cuisine called Cheep-Cheep chowder, steaming fresh Shroom steak, amongst other things.

As the piñata chancellor took his place, he motions Yoshi to the food, who hurriedly replied by serving his plate, until food overflowed onto the table. He takes in a spoonful of Koopasta, and looks up; he got a good look at the red Birdo, who began to leave when their eyes met. The red Birdo had a scar running down his right eye, apparently having lost it in the past. The same scar ran down under the apron. Yoshi's enthusiasm for the feast reduced to a couple of slow chews.

The pianta chancellor notices this and tells the green Birdo hostess as she brings the Chai tea and begins pouring it into two cups, "May you be kind to give us time to discuss alone?"

"Right away, sir." She exits the room, leaving the cherry-blossomed pianta alone with the green Yoshi.

The pianta looks at Yoshi as he clasps his hand and puts them on the table. "Wondering about these Birdos huh?"

Yoshi swallows his food. "Yeah, man… uh, I mean, Chancellor. I thought that all of…"

"The Birdos were petrified, yes?" interrupted the chancellor, "They were inside our lady's castle during that assault. And I assume you're wondering about the scar he got there?"

Yoshi nods as he puts another spoonful of Koopasta in his mouth.

"Yoshi, that red Birdo was once part of the crew of the infamous Jonathan Jones. He was the ship's cook, and over the years, got that scar. A year before the attack of Smithy over the Mushroom Kingdom, he left piracy and took refuge here in Sarasa Land. I and your hostess are the only ones who know his true identity, and you're the third. Please, not a word about this."

Yoshi swallows, and nods. "Okay, I won't. But why is the red Birdo…?"

The chancellor raises a wanted posted with a red 'X' crossing out Johnny's face. "He was apprehended, and sent to a prison in Desert Hill. Even if he does escape, he'll dehydrate quickly and die in the desert."

Yoshi looks to the side, bringing a bowl of Cheep-Cheep chowder to his mouth. After a short sip, he gives the broth a dreamy look.

"This is so good!"

"Ah, yes! The chef's specialty! Let us forget our dreary conversation and eat merrily, shall we?" The chancellor begins eating with proper table manners, but is unperturbed by Yoshi frantically stuffing his face.

Once dinner over with, Yoshi is ushered into a private room, full with a personal hot spring. A pot of warm tea is left at a table next to his bed mat. Ahh… that warm shower hits the spot. A couple of sips from the relaxing Chai tea, and Yoshi rapidly falls asleep.

…

_Next Morning…_

Yoshi dashed outside the castle walls to a helicopter readied to take him and the chancellor to a fair in the nearby desert realm, Birabuto. He goes inside the copter and frantically motions the pilot, a doogan to leave.

"Hurry! The princess is in danger!"

"Oh no! Let's go then!" the doogan absentmindedly replies, and soon they're off, speeding through that clouds, in hopes to reach Daisy in time.

The yellow pianta chancellor runs outside and sees the ride gone. He looks to the side at a doogan soldier.

"How long will the next helicopter by ready?"

"In fifteen minutes, sir!"

The yellow pianta begins sweating. He rubs his forehead in frustration. "What was the pilot thinking? He already knows the situation, yet he… [Sighs] Oh well. Too bad Yoshi didn't hear the rest either. We must hurry to the Birabuto's amusement park at once!"

-o-

**Next time: A battle in Birabuto. Until Then…**


	12. Trouble at Birabuto Fair

**Trouble at Birabuto Fair**

Yoshi and the doogan pilot zip through the mountains of Chai, dash across the vast expansion on Muda, and finally reach the country of Birabuto. During the 30 minute flight, Yoshi, nervously tapping his fingers on Stuffwell 2.0, couldn't shake off the thought of Daisy being in eminent danger. The pilot points at an ancient fair-like bazaar in the western side of Birabuto, and flew there as fast as the helicopter could take them.

The pilot almost crash lands the helicopter on an open area in the southeastern corner of Birabuto Fair, the newest attraction built around an oasis in Sarasa Land. He parks it next to Daisy's personal 'copter, an orange vessel with two white flowers on the side doors.

Yoshi hears an outburst of astonished gasps and shrieks. He dashes in direction of the commotion. Yoshi runs past the outdoor stores of dried Shrooms and pasta, jumped over pots and barrels of unknown content, and reaches the central plaza. A midday gust blew across the open area; Yoshi furrows his brows.

Amidst the sandy wind, Morton Koopa Jr. stood triumphantly, both of his dark skinned arms raised, his spiked wristbands glistening in the sun. A Sarasa Land Toad lay on the floor bruised and unconscious, while Daisy stood near, looking a bit anxious. Morton roared and banged on two palms at his vicinity.

"Who dare's challenge me?" he hollered.

Without warning, Yoshi jumps at Morton's head and does a Ground Pound; he lands next to Daisy. He hands Stuffwell 2.0. to a flustered Daisy. She goes inside a permanent building of the fair, as Yoshi declares while trying to stomp on Morton's three-haired head again, "How about me?"

To Yoshi's surprise, the Ground Pound didn't work, and found himself smacked into one of the palms by Morton's brutish arm swipe. Yoshi rubs his head before dodging a desert coconut that fell from the palm. Morton laughs and wags his claw.

"That ain't workiiiing no more!" Morton exclaims.

Morton runs up the palm opposite to the one Yoshi crashed into. The palm bends due to the dark skinned Koopa's weight. He jumps off and grabs onto the trunk as the weightlessness made the flexible tree rebound; it flings him up to the sky. Yoshi squints trying to spot the flying Koopaling; the desert sun is too bright.

An incoming shadow sped at Yoshi; he narrowly jumps out of Morton's way. He grabs onto a wooden pole erected for a tent that would be put up later; and as he did that, he turns and spots a barrel near the pole, stretching his tongue at it. The momentum spun him around the pole, dragging the barrel with him, and finally launching it at Morton with his near perfect aim. Morton simply smacks the barrel; the busted seems and splinters fly at random directions.

A spiky club was tossed at Morton from the roof of the building next to the two palms. Yoshi looks up and face faults when he sees Daisy waving back, smiling from ear to ear. He let's go of the pole and furiously stomps on the somewhat paved, dusty plaza.

"Seriously! What the heck! Whose side are you on?"

Daisy giggles, making Yoshi fume even more. "Gotta make it more interesting, no?"

As Yoshi angrily pondered on Daisy's simplicity, Morton had already picked up the weapon and charged at Yoshi like a bull during a stampede. When Yoshi finally notices, Morton is a few steps away. Although Morton is clumsily and progressively nearing, Yoshi becomes temporarily paralyzed. He snaps out of the trance and climbs up the pole just as Morton swung the club. Yoshi had hastily climbed the wooden pole, so it took the blow instead and snapped like a twig. The pole inevitably falls.

Yoshi frantically yells at Daisy, "Grab the jar and throw a vitamin now!"

Daisy leisurely opens up Stuffwell, and grabs the plastic container. After opening, she casually says, "Here's a yellow one 'cause I like yellow."

She tosses a yellow vitamin at her falling green friend. He promptly stretches his tongue at it before falling and causing a dust cloud to rise. The dustiness lingered for a bit, the sun causing Yoshi's shadow to appear. Morton smirks and forcefully flings the club at Yoshi's shadow. What happened next surprises everyone.

An untimely wind blows across, revealing that Yoshi had transformed into a burly, yellow Yoshi. He simply lands a left hook and smashes the club. A growl comes from his stomach, making him grab and look down at it.

He thinks, 'The strength of a Yellow Yoshi plus the stomach to match.' He determinedly looks at the dark skinned Koopaling. 'Let's see if I can do that…'

Yoshi stomps on the sandy ground; well placed a sandy shockwave speeds at Morton, who can't seem to dodge it on time. He is hit and pushed a bit back.

'I hit him, but it seems I have the same slow reaction time as Morton. I'll get him while he's down.'

Yoshi charges at Morton around the same speed as his enemy. Morton shakes his head, and quickly recovers. The cantankerously Koopaling sees Yoshi, and scowls, retaliating by charging back. Both collide and look into each others hands. The force of their collision blows away the sand and rubbish in their immediate vicinity. They struggle to bring to other down as they wrestle, but Morton slowly gets the upper hand, managing to slowly but surely push Yoshi back.

Yoshi thinks as he sweats and attempts to resist, 'He's still to strong. Better finish this quick.'

Yoshi's face suddenly beams in enlightenment, and takes advantage of the simple and irate Koopaling. Yoshi loosens his grip and seemingly gives in, causing Morton to fall forward, his face smashing into the ground. Yoshi flips the dizzy Koopaling and then jumps up, Ground Pounding on Morton's softer belly. Morton let's out a wheeze and a flatulence, and drops his hands to the sides, knocked out. Yoshi knelt on his right knee, exhausted from the fight and desert sun.

At this moment, Daisy went down to the plaza, and her pianta chancellor had just arrived. Seeing Morton defeated and Daisy and Yoshi standing by, the pianta smacks his forehead.

"Milady, why is Morton beat up? You should treat your guests more properly!"

-o-

**HUH?! WHAT JUST HAPPENED!? ****Up next: Departure for Desert Hill and the demise of some characters.**


	13. The Two-sided Race Begins

**The Two-sided Race Begins**

Yoshi stood open mouthed in disbelief, his arms hanging down his sides. The pianta chancellor placed his hands on his hips as he shook his head, while Daisy rushed at Morton Jr., smiling and shaking her head. Yoshi slowly faced Daisy while helped the dark skinned Koopaling up.

"Aww, Morty! And here I thought you were going to win!"

"Bu-bu-but, that chump…"

"Shh, it's okay. Here's your consolation prize…" Daisy looks at Morton with a 'derp' face.

Morton Jr. replies with a toothy smile. "You mean…"

Daisy replies with a nod. Then they both yell out of the top of their lungs, "CHEEESEPUUFFS!" Both get some bags of the cheese snacks out of nowhere and rip them open, chugging the content, some orange dust and puffs falling off their mouths.

Yoshi's left eye kept twitching and his mouth quivered in disbelief. The chancellor waddled close to Yoshi, his arms behind his back and his cherry blossom branch swaying back and forth. He clears his throat, making Yoshi look at him.

"Gu-gu-GUEST!? You mean, he, you, …?"

"Precisely, my dinosaur friend," interrupted the yellow pianta chancellor, who then stares Yoshi down. "Weren't you green or something?"

"That's not the point! Mario has gone missing, not to mention Luigi, Peach and Toad, and… "

Yoshi's stomach grumbles. He blushes as he looks down at it, just as Daisy approached him and the pianta chancellor. She is seen wiping her mouth with her arm, leaving a streak of orange running to her right cheek.

"Hi Yoshi!" she said in her usual cheery voice, "Guess what you won?"

"A trip back to reality?"

Daisy laughs. "No silly! You won a…" She pulls out a note and grimaces after reading it silently. She nervously continues, "Uh, a trip to my… palace?" An awkward silence. Morton Jr., because of the beating, collapses next to the tomboy princess.

…

One trip back to the castle later, Yoshi and a bandaged Morton Jr. are at a dinner table chugging the banquet provided by the red Birdo chef of the inn. Many servants fill the place, bringing full dishes and leaving with empty ones. Morton somehow spoke and ate simultaneously without choking. Daisy was amused, and the pianta chancellor put down his bowl to speak to Yoshi. Before doing so, Yoshi's yellow transformation ends, and he reverts to his former self, bloated from the ton of food he ate.

"How can yellow Yoshis eat so much?" Yoshi complained.

"I assume you have no idea where to go next, yes?" asked the pianta chancellor. Yoshi painfully nods.

The cherry blossomed pianta stands. "I wish to speak to our guests privately, if you please. Call in the chef in here as well." They all leave promptly, and the red Birdo walked in moments later, who furiously glared at both guests.

The yellow pianta narrows his eyes as he stares down at the table; he sighs. Started by the sudden change of atmosphere, Morton finally silences but begins to choke on the bite of food he ate. Daisy and Yoshi both ignore Morton and the red Birdo gets closer. The chancellor looks at them all.

"When we arrived, I received a call from the Mushroom Kingdom's Professor E. Gadd. Those unruly Toads have frenzied even more at the Mushroom Kingdom, and now, rumors of the Beanbean Kingdom openly waging war against the monster that kidnapped the world's heroes… This does not boding well for our world."

"So what exactly do we do?" asked Yoshi.

"This may seem unorthodox, but we must get help from various nations from beyond the vast ocean, ones that we have never dreamt of seeing yet." The chancellor clasps his hands.

"What's wrong with that?" asked Daisy, as she did the Heimlich maneuver on Morton, who coughed out the chewed up mess.

"We need some creatures who have ventured past that safe marine barrier to guide you three to those new countries, especially the underwater shark kingdom where you'll receive the most help." The cherry blossomed pianta began to shake and sweat.

"You mean Same-Same?" asked Yoshi, pulling out two letters from Stuffwell 2.0. "Parakarry gave me these to deliver to Daisy and someone else. I can't read this writing it's written in."

Daisy snatched both letters and opens them, making Yoshi sweat drop due to her lack of respect for privacy.

"Yaay!" squealed Daisy, "My cheesepuff order will come in two days!"

The chancellor peeks at the other letter as he shook his head, but becomes shocked. "A summon letter from the Same-Same Kingdom! It is a clear now. What a twist in fate!" He sternly faces them all again. "I'll be frank. You three must break the pirate Jonathan Jones out of his prison and return as soon as possible."

The red birdo looks confused while the other three face fault.

"We'll become criminals!" yelled Yoshi, "Though, Morton is already one."

"Hey, chump!" retorted Morton, "That ain't true no more! I was kicked out of the Troop, and…" Morton lower lip quivered and his eyes started to water.

"Aw, Morty," said Daisy as she hugged the sizable Koopaling.

"I know this is sudden," continued the chancellor, "but at least you will all have the protection of Sarasaland. The red Birdo here is also wanted, so he'll accompany you when after you return with the pirate safely. I'll have the servants pack your belongings, your highness, and any other supplies you'll need. Your personal 'copter will also get readied. Red Birdo, I surmise you can handle this task without letting out a single peep?"

The red Birdo bows his head and leaves at once. The preparations were done with quickly. Everything was packed inside Stuffwell, and all three board Daisy's helicopter.

"Your highness, are you sure you don't need a pilot?" asked the chancellor.

"Of course not!" she gleefully replied, "This shouldn't be different from go-carting. How hard can it be?"

"So we head to…?" began Yoshi before getting interrupted by the chancellor.

"Desert Hill it is. Please, watch over her highness' safety."

Yoshi nodded while pouting and grunting. The motor starts running and the gusts made begin to pick up. The 'copter lifts and takes off toward the far east.

…

While the heroes' travel to Desert Hill, night has fallen over Bowser's castle. Back at Iggy's lab, Parakarry, Kooper, and Goombario are strapped onto a metallic panel, a death ray pointing at them. Ludwig took extreme precaution to ensure the success of his project, so he strapped them completely from wings to limbs, and blindfolded the three.

Roy kept picking on them as Ludwig finished the preparations with the assistance from Iggy under his meds. The Bowser marionette lay lifeless on the lab's gray stone floor. Ludwig grimaced while he heard Roy still teasing the captives, and now Larry and Bowser Jr. had joined the ruckus. The rest of the Koopalings and two of the cloaked generals stood afar, either snickering or grinning maliciously. Without turning from his work, Ludwig sternly confronts Roy.

"That will be enough from you, Roy. Cease your infantile mischief."

"Make me, sucka!" Roy defiantly replies, rubbing his chin.

Ludwig stops his work and gives Roy a smug look, and then turns, leaning his arms backward on the work station. He closes his eyes and makes a 'Bring it' motion with both hands. Roy returns a grin and pulls out his Bullet Bill launcher and didn't hesitate to shoot one; everyone in the lab silenced as they witnessed the clash.

To Roy's annoyance and almost everyone else's astonishment, Ludwig takes out a conductor's baton from within his shell, which in that instance doubled as a fencing sword and slit the Bullet Bill in two. The baton still in his left hand, Ludwig levitates while enveloping the baton in lightning, and seemingly flicks the stick at the very center of the launcher, penetrating to the other side and causing the weapon to explode on Roy's shoulders.

Roy fell covered in soot, and later shook of the blast while fixing his shades. "You haxxed…!"

"Surprised, you imbecile?" Ludwig's eyes shadow out as he smirks. "Beneath the shadow of our preceding leader were we not permitted to shine forth. I am not restraining myself now that I can demonstrate my vast capacity."

"Hey, Wiseguy!" interrupted the cloak clad Don Albino, "Stop messin' around! We have the Beanbean Kingdom t' squash an' the boss wanted t' try out his new toy soon!"

"Besssidesss," continued another ally nearby, whose yellow serpentine eyes glowed from the shadows they were in, "You and Lemmy need to bring the rouge Fire Bro. of Dessssert Hill and that shark pirate Johnny Jonesss."

Before Ludwig replies, the 'calm' Iggy says, "Luddy, all systems are go. Ready to commence at your signal."

While Larry and Bowser Jr. help Roy back up (who pushed them away), Ludwig fixed the other ray directly above his former leader. He nods to Iggy, who starts the death ray before Mario's former companions. The three solemnly engage in a nearly inaudible conversation one last time, beneath the whirring of the machine.

Goombario, with deep colored bags under his eyes and purple ooze dripping from his mouth, begins to shake. "Mom… Dad… Goompapa… Everyone… I didn't make it… Sorry…"

Kooper pants as blood trickles down the side of his face. "Dude… Goombario, Parakarry… I never thought to be taken out like this. Time to kiss the world good bye."

"So this is it, then?" Parakarry replies, smugly grinning. "My replacement is a clumsy idiot. How ironic! Still, the world is at stake." He lifts his head toward the lifeless ceiling and thinks, 'Yoshi… It's all you now. Save our wor…'

A red laser shoots at the three, who begin to slowly fade. Being stronger then the experiments used previously, it took a while for them to dematerialize. But their moment came; Parakarry's cracked goggles fell and shattered into the floor. Kooper's soiled red scarf and his newly acquired Koopa Mach 1 Sprint shoes plopped onto the grey stone floor, and Goombario, after shedding a final tear, disappears; his hat melancholically glides down to its final resting place next to the fallen objects.

Ludwig nods at Iggy again; the other laser machine lights up and shot a yellow beam at the lifeless Bowser puppet. It stops after a moment, leaving the wooden body steaming hot. With the process done, the leader shows up with the rest of the generals, and with a deep "Let's go," the Koopalings sans Ludwig and Lemmy, and the other general begin to march out. The generals all remove their cloaks, but remain unseen behind their cloaked leader. Ludwig and Lemmy boarded on the Clown Car and began their travel to Desert Hill.

-o-

**Hope you all enjoyed a longer chapter!**

**The clock is ticking and the race for the Mushroom World is on! Who will win this race? See you all next chapter!**


	14. Darkness at the end of Desert Hill

**Darkness at the end of Desert Hill**

On the same night Yoshi, Princess Daisy, and Morton Jr. head over to the kingdom of Desert Hill, that sandy kingdom was still rejoicing, for it had been approximately a week since a pair of Fire Bros. bounty hunters (who dubbed themselves Hitatsu and Draco) had captured the infamous shark pirate, Jonathan Jones, and sent him to an impenetrable prison fortress. It is located some miles from San Lake, beyond the rugged mountain range in the western Desert Hill, and built into the stones and sands of the perilous mountainside. Even for an expansive desert kingdom, hardly a soul showed itself on that western seclusion for months or even years.

But that same night, both Fire Bros. visit the jail once more. Inside, they both walk around the prison until they reach a section resembling an aquarium. Johnny is seen inside a high impact plastic tank, crafted into the sturdy, thick walls of the jail. The shark is chained by his pectoral fins and pelvic area so that he would float in the middle. His head hung low due to being unaccustomed to freshwater and being practically starved. Bags had formed under his slit, yellow right eye and left sided eye patch. And although at a first glance he looks fine, he began to appear emaciated and enveloped in a sickly brown hue. Scars and bruises concentrated especially in the areas clasped tightly by the cuffs.

Since the day of his imprisonment, Johnny had struggled to break free from his bonding chains to no avail. And every day the sun was at its peak, it shone directly inside the water tank, releasing its fury into the water, and warming it up to levels unbearable for an oceanic shark. This went on for about that time frame, also evaporating the liquid and sapping Johnny of his energy little by little. He hears a couple of taps on the 'glass,' prompting him to slowly look up at the inquirer.

"Long time since seeing your ugly mug!" chortled the leader of the duo, Hitatsu. This Fire Bro. sported Boshi-style shades, a silver chain with a silver spiked shell pendant, and black skater shorts. He walks around shirtless. He continues his gloat, "I just wanted to thank you for landing me on the lap of luxury, dude."

Johnny lunged furiously at the now laughing Fire Bro., accidentally hurting himself in the process. Like any enraged shark, his eye rolls back, revealing a white membrane, and he also exposes his multiple rows of teeth.

Johnny roared, "GRRRR! Ye nary hav' a pint o' honor, ye spineless lubber! Lemme outta her', ye scurvy dog! I be makin' ye walk th' plank!"

Johnny scowls as Hitatsu leans on the 'glass' dividing them. Hitatsu motions Johnny to get closer, who angrily complies.

The leading Fire Bro whispers, "You were worth more than three times the amount I got from bounties all these years. But why stop there, dude? Legally plundering countries of their money; not bad from a former Trooper of the Koopa Troop, right, dude?"

Johnny sneers after hearing that. "Ye smell worse than th' bilge in me ship, ya louse, ridd'n privateer."

Hitastu backs up and smugly grins back. "Ho, ho! Pot calling the kettle black, huh? Get comfortable, Johnny, 'cause your life of piracy ends here, dude."

Johnny furiously squirms as he tries to break loose again, hollering insults and threats at both Fire Bros., although much of it was unintelligible. Draco, the other Fire bro. of the duo wearing a white karate robe and turban, caught a few things Johnny spewed at them.

"Ye ne'er be me mate! Only me mates call the ol' cap't Johnny, ye scallywag!"

A prison Koopa guard resembling Tootankoopa walks in with an official clad in a desert robe, fixed with embroidery that bore the royal emblem of the Beanbean Kingdom. Hitatsu turns, sees them and smiles; and begins to walk towards them, also motioning his partner to do the same. Both Fire Bros. stopped in front of the cloaked guy, and customary to greeting a paying executive, they bow and keep this posture.

This being removes its cloak and reveals itself to be a three-headed snake resembling Tryclyde, except that it was colored like a coral snake and its smallest head kept its eyes shut; this is Slyklyde. The jail guard is astonished, and tries to warn the others in the prison. The smaller head turns itself at the fleeing Koopa and opens its eyes, petrifying the guard dead in its tracks. The center head proceeds to eat the statue, melting it into a mush inside its mouth with its highly acidic venom. The other head spews out some sort of tar which takes the form of the deceased guard, and silently leaves. The small head closes its eyes once more as the Fire Bro. duo stands upright.

"We caught and sent this dude to rot here, just as you asked," said Hitatsu, "What's next on the agenda?"

"Yexxx, exxxcelent work, Hitaxxxu," replied Slyklyde, but then looks at Johnny, still making a ruckus. "He'xxx flopping like a fish out of water, yexxx?"

The shirtless Fire Bro. looks back as well. "Ignore him, dude."

"Yexxx. There ixxx xxxomething we need from the uncharted landxxx of the Mushroom World. But we need the fabled dexxxert Bubble fruit, xxxaid to allow underwater creaturexxx a breath of air. It ixxx hidden in the depthxxx of thixxx jail, I hear."

Johnny stops moving and drop hangs, tired from struggling. Draco sees this and asks, "Is it smart to talk about this infront of…?"

"Shut up, Draco!" retorted Hitatsu, "It's not like he'll waltz out of this prison alive! [Sarcastic] Or what, a group of ninjas will come out of nowhere, turn this hell-hole into a heap of rubble, and bust him out of here? Come on now!" He turns to the Tryclyde doppelganger. "Give us a few, no? We can't show up here often."

"Axxx xxxoon axxx you find it, you'll be hanxxxomely rewarded."

Hitatsu grins. "That's what I like to hear, dude."

Slyklyde replaces his garb, and begins to walk out, deep in thoughts. 'While we wait, I will help Maxxxter conquer Beanbean. But Ludwig and Lemmy will arrive in about a week, to pick up Johnny, the fruit, and… you, Hitatsu. So savor your few days of life.'

-o-

**I called the [III]-shaped lake in Desert Hill**_** San Lake**_** ('San' is three in Japanese). **_**Hitatsu **_**and**_** Draco **_**are the pair of Fire Bros. from Desert Hill.**

**New character: Slyklyde (He pronounces the 's' like an 'x'). How's he important to the story? Follow the story and find out!**

**A/N: Please review if you'd be so kind. Questions for me, go ahead and send me a PM. I won't give away the plot though. **


	15. Oasis in Eastern Desert Hill

**Oasis in Eastern Desert Hill**

It is a thunderous night near the eastern outskirts of the desert nation, and according to the weather station broadcasting into the radio inside Daisy's personal 'copter, it was quite a large storm, spreading it dark blanket of clouds across the land up to the dark Koopa realm. Daisy had Stuffwell 2.0 opened on her lap, and was fiddling with Yoshi's things, especially the Wii Me. Morton Jr. is sleeping on the floor, and is tossing an turning, presumably having a nightmare. He mumbles while he sleeps, but most of it comes out as an unrecognizable babble, except for the occasional, "Luddy…" and "Why, daddy?"

Yoshi is in the front, clumsily piloting the helicopter, with the actual pilot (a doogan that had snuck on-board before leaving Sarasaland) taking a nap beside him. The additional turbulence from the storm wasn't helping either, with an occasional shower blurring the windows and the electricity causing interference with the communication equipment. Yoshi's head is bobbing up and down.

'Transforming into a 'copter is so different from driving one,' thought Yoshi, 'And to top it off, this bozo decides to take a nap. [Groans] I am so tired, but we have who knows how much time to land. I wonder if we'll die before I accidentally crash this thing…'

A bolt of lightning cracks in front of the flying vehicle, prompting Yoshi to narrowly dodge and nearly crash onto another bolt. The ordeal startles Yoshi, who suddenly then jumps when Daisy taps his shoulder.

"AAH!"

"It's just me, ol' pal! How about I take over?"

"This isn't easy, you know. I am barely getting the hang of it, and your piloting skills aren't…"

Daisy bumps Yoshi of the pilot's seat. "You just say that 'cause I had a rough start driving this. Just you watch me. I'll be just as good as the sleeping doogan pilot over…"

SNAP! Daisy had pulled on the cyclic and broke it and an untimely bolt struck the helicopter, making the control panel go haywire. The sleeping doogan is now wide awake, and, along with Yoshi, is panicking, trying to regain control. To make matters worse, the helicopter dove nose down. Daisy threw her hands up as if on a roller coaster and yelled excitedly; Yoshi and the doogan hollered in horror. The 'copter crashes into a sand dune near an oasis, and everyone inside is out cold…

…

Yoshi woke up and slowly sat up on the bed he lay upon; his covers slid down. The world seemed to be spinning around him and his body ached, especially his left arm. A lamp on the wall at the end dimly lit the room. The noise of chatter, laughter, and clanging metal resounded from another room. The multiple aromas filling the air caused nausea and relief at the same time. He rubs the side of his head, and stop upon a certain realization…

'Wait… I'm on a bed, inside some stranger's house, and this metallic sound…'

He looks to his side before completing his thought. Although his vision is somewhat cloudy due to his dizziness, he spots an open box of aroma therapy potpourri, a gorgeous jade-incrusted ceramic cup, and two porcelain kettles with a thin vapor escaping from the spout, all placed neatly on an imported coffee table. He looks for a window, but finds himself surrounded by four adobe walls, decorated with expensive wallpaper and paintings of famous landmarks found around the Mushroom World, some of places unknown to him. A golden harp stood at corner, opposite of Yoshi's resting place.

'Did we get rescued and sent back to Daisy's? Oww, my head. I don't even want to think right now.'

Yoshi grabs the cup and the closer kettle, and takes a whiff. 'Ugh! Coffee! I don't need the extra caffeine boost. It smells bitter and sugarless, too.'

He puts that kettle back and grabs the other. He smells that one too, and pours the content into the cup, more steam blowing into Yoshi's face. He hurriedly chugs the green liquid pours content, closing his eyes as his savored every drop of tea that didn't run down the side of his mouth. He feels his dizziness and body aches fade slowly.

'Delicious! Must be Chai tea, with a bit of tropical flower nectar from my home island to top it off! How did this guy get such a costly sweetness? I practically have to sell and arm and leg for that!'

He sighs in complete satisfaction. He gets up, refreshed by the tea, and stretches, only to stop midway, finding that his arm was not fully recovered. He decides to give the place a look, after not seeing any of his companions.

He walks out of the dimly lit room and hears a commotion of people playing video games from one direction, and the same clanging from before in the room next to his. He goes to the fun room first, and was greeted by a television screen large enough to be the wall itself, and a "You lose!" screen. Morton Jr. had just lost a life and grabbed his bald head; Daisy laughed at his face.

"NUUUU!"

"Ha, ha! That means I win, Morty! Now pay up!"

Morton looks away and juts his jaw, and hands Daisy his last bag of spicy cheesepuffs. They hear someone walk in and turn; both see Yoshi at the doorway. Daisy gets up to greet him, while Morton sneaks the bag back into his shell.

"Hey, sleepy head. Finally you joined us. Look at the guy who found us."

Yoshi turns and sees a desert Para-goomba and apparently, his Bandit bodyguard. This winged Goomba wore a white fedora and suit, shades, a gold chain with a platinum mushroom pendant, and shiny black shoes.

"He, he, he. Welcome to my humble abode here in Desert Hill's oasis: the Spade Casino. Name's Bago."

-o-

**The cyclic is a control on a helicopter. **

**You know the Spade Roulette space in the corner of Desert Hill in SMB3? That's the casino! Next time: The story continues and an interesting travel west. Until then…**


	16. Travel West to the Pyramid Town

**Travel West to the Pyramid Town**

Yoshi shrugged and let his arms fall to his sides as he let out a loud sigh. The pilot doogan walks in around this time, speaking to both Daisy and the paragoomba.

"Mr. Bago, your highness. How do you do this afternoon?"

Yoshi does a double take. "WHAT?! Noon!? How long have we been in this stranger's desert casino?"

Daisy lightheartedly replies, "Stranger? Him? Nah, he's the owner of Birabuto Fair. Oh, and we've been here since our crash."

Daisy laughs as Yoshi thinks, 'Don't you mean, **your** crash?'

"I opened this joint after Mario freed us from the chunky guy there," says Bago, pointing at Morton with his wing.

"Watch it, chump. I ain't fat, just big boned. And dat happen long ago."

"Hey, Morty, my man, I ain't holding no grudges, but I can't say the same for the rest of the kingdom."

For once, the room was devoid from Morton's constant rambling, who just looked down. Daisy walked over to him and gave him a warm hug.

"It's okay, Morty. As long as I'm here, you're good and safe."

"'Fraid not, your highness," replied Bago, who tilts his head down while closing his eyes. "The people of Desert Hill don't easily let go of grudges. Say the new railroad built a while back with the help of the Bob-ombs Bruce and Bombette. Many opposed the idea, and even now, they picket around each of the Desert Hill stations. The one outside here has frequent protests. An' I'm sure there is resentment lingering from the old Koopa invasion."

"So I ain't welcome, chump?" inquired Morton Jr.

"'Fraid not, my man. And if y'all seen together, you could be charged of kidnapping Princess Daisy." He looks at Yoshi. "Remember, Dino Boy, the Yoshi species is not a common sight in these parts. You'll be suspicious as well."

"That's peachy," Yoshi replies sarcastically, "But we need to go over to the… um, lake in the west. What do you suggest, then?" He crosses his arms, but later uncrossed them due to his injured left arm.

"Simple, yet tiresome. Cross the desert. A few days walk west is a pyramid outpost place. Hear they're havin' some sort of costume party. Once there, I don't know. Do whatever you want."

"And our pilot?" asks Daisy.

The doogan finally interjects. "That's why I came here, your highness. I am fixing it in Mr. Bago's jet garage. I fear it will take me all week to fix it. This is as far as I can…"

"Take your time, my man," interrupts the white clad Paragoomba, "She has some guards with her. And use what ya need, on the house."

Daisy gets a dreamy sparkle in her eyes and clasped her hands, a rare instance she didn't look tomboyish. "Really, you mean it?"

"Yesh, ma'am. I mean, Birabuto is the second largest fair I own, and your chancellor is a good bud of mine. Why not?"

Daisy hugs the paragoomba so tightly that his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. "Thank yoooouu! Now Yoshi, Morty and I will go. We'll be back in a few."

The doogan pilot tilts his hat. "Be careful, your highness. I will have it ready by the time you return."

She and the other two start heading out, and walk into the sandy inferno.

…

Yoshi, Daisy, and Morton Jr. journeyed west to the famous pyramid landmark; night falls and it's morning again, though the desert heat made it seem like it was noon already. Yoshi was slowly treading a bit ahead of Morton Jr. and Daisy, looking like he hadn't had an ounce of sleep. Daisy and Morton slept like a piranha plant with a snot bubble, and were full of energy that morning. With them being used to desert heat, they had a blast making noise; Morton was beat boxing, and Daisy was "rapping".

"My name is Daisy. It rhymes with lazy, it also rhymes with crazy, it rhymes with… Shtacy!"

Morton excitedly taps her shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! We'll write that down later! My turn!"

Yoshi's head creaks as it slowly turns at the others, sending back a crazed, bloodshot gaze. "You both have been rapping for the past two hours! You both suck!"

"But we're bored!" complained Daisy, pouting at Yoshi, later sending the same look at the dark skinned Koopaling.

Morton rowdily adds, "Yeah, chump!"

Yoshi covered his ears. "And you Morton, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I'm going bonkers hearing your voice! You haven't zipped it for the entire trip and…!" Yoshi's stomach grumbles. He falls to his knees and sticks his tongue out after tilting his head backwards. "Uh… food."

Morton grasps his belly as he lets out a raspy laugh. "Ha, ha! Good luck with that, chump! All you'll ever find is dried pasta, dried 'shrooms, dried, sock, dried fish, dried dry bones, and…"

Daisy shoots Morton a 'derpy' look; both pull out a bag out of nowhere.

"CHEESE PUFFS!" yelled Daisy.

Both rip open their bags and begin to manically chug down the puffy, orange content, but were ignored by the hungry, green dinosaur. The desert heat was getting to Yoshi, who wasn't used to such an arid environment. He began having hallucinations that he was in a magical land of food.

'… Oh, the spongy angel food cake I'm sinking into, the fluffy sugar confections floating up above, winking, wanting to be eaten by me. The dancing, gummy palm trees, the chocolate stones, the red, hot cheesepuff flying at me from a distance. Strange, why is it getting hot all of a sudden? I'm… sinking?'

Yoshi snaps out of the mirage, and finds he's is sinking into quicksand. He frantically tries to escape a sandy slush death, but kept sinking. When only his hand was sticking outside, he is pulled out by Morton, who is safely standing along with Daisy on the sinking sand. The darkly tanned Koopaling tosses him on more stable sand.

Yoshi is gasping for air, forgetting he was thick in sludge. "Blahh! That's nasty stuff! Hey! Why aren't you two sinking?"

Daisy shrugs while Morton begins a rant. "Well, chump, maybe you heavy, but then, I weigh like Roy, but I'm not sinking, and Daisy isn't either, but you did, and you a gween donkay, so maybe it hates you, or 'cause we lived in the desert, or maybe…"

Yoshi coughed out more quicksand, and realized Morton was at it again. Noticing the heat going back up amidst Morton's rambling, he peaks behind the overgrown Koopaling, and face faults. The hot cheese puff, as Yoshi realized, was actually the Angry Sun, who patrolled the area since, well, forever.

Yoshi waved about his arms, and pointed toward the incoming, bloodshot sun, since no sound came out of his dry throat. Oblivious to the danger, Daisy and Morton Jr. inquired his unorthodox actions.

Daisy stood to Yoshi's right and asked, "Are you playing Charades? Ooh, I love Charades!" prompting Yoshi to shake his head.

"Maybe the chump wants some cheese puffs?"

Yoshi angrily nose whacked Morton in his stomach, who suddenly let out a sickly, green fart, which resounded in the open desert, and caused a violent sand storm behind him. Unbeknownst to the trio, the Angry Sun was about to burn the Koopaling, but was stopped short due to being blasted directly in the face by the rancid, flatulence of cheese puff aroma.

Daisy fell on the sand laughing and flailing her arms and legs, while Morton giggled as well, feeling no shame whatsoever. Yoshi covered his sensitive nose, and gave in to the moment, joining the laughter of how things turned out.

After the laughter and sand storm died out, the three continue forward to the next stop, another oasis, before finally reaching their destination. For once in the trip, Yoshi actually enjoyed Morton's constant retelling of the cosmic fart (as he said himself), and the three didn't notice when they were inside the new oasis town.

-o-

**The trio will meet a special character later. Next time: Ludwig and Lemmy's travels in a concurrent timeline. Until then…**


	17. Lemmy's Alter Ego: The Past

**Lemmy's Alter Ego: The Past**

Because of a mega thunderstorm encompassing from the dark lands of the Koopa Kingdom to the desolate Desert Hill, Lemmy and Ludwig had to land the Clown Car near Poshley Heights, and took the evening train to Rougeport for a small business matter the Master commanded Lemmy to do after the task in the desert realm. The Bumpty conductor was half asleep and failed to notice that both boarded the fancy train without a ticket. They sat in a lavishly decorated passenger cart, presumably the one rumored to contain a poisoned, ghostly Toad. The train doors closed and it started to move along.

A male voice came from the train's golden speakers. "Thank you for choosing the Excess Express. Next stop: Rougeport. Landing time: Four Hours."

Both Koopalings take a nap while on their free ride on the fancy train devoid of nocturnal life. The train traveled through open, moonlit plains and dark, menacing forests before arriving directly to Rougeport, the former stop having been demolished a while back. As the trains comes to a complete stop, dawn cracks on the eastern horizon, and the light seeps into the cart, waking the sleeping Koopalings.

Off the train they go, and into the less notorious West Side. Lemmy walks into the Pianta Parlor, while Ludwig takes a meditative stroll and finds himself by the gallows of the town square. A doogan with a blonde greaser do bumps into him, but Ludwig, being used to Larry and his underhandedness, reacted instinctively by poking the doogan in the eye (Ludwig always taps Larry's forehead, but this doogan was taller so…), retrieving his purse of coins from the recently swept ground. Ludwig turns to the mugger, cruelly smiling at the ailing doogan holding onto his eye.

"Oh? Someone requires schooling by Larry on thievery. Ha, ha! Luck bestows its blessing upon you today, foolish scamp; next time, it will be my claw, and not just my digit, you simple-minded urchin!"

He resumed his walk and heads south, leaving the doogan shaking by the gallows. He reaches the port and leans on the railing of the docks. The sun has now risen further, and a cool, oceanic breeze streams past his iconic blue hair. He watches dolphins breach at a distance, reminding him of all his siblings. A pink dolphin much smaller than the rest joyously jumps out as well, causing Ludwig to ponder deeply into his past.

…

_[Ludwig's POV]_

_[Sighs.] How has my life amongst my brethren come about! To think that the Master planned his scheme beginning to end, and has filled every crack and strengthened every weakness. Much better than what Father… no, Bowser, could dream of implementing, and by that I mean light-years' difference._

_But this new chapter in the existence of the Koopa Troop started years ago, in our quest to conquer the seven Mushroom realms in alliance with Princess Toadstool. That repulsive plumber and his sidekick brother! Always getting in our way of Father… no, Bowser. One by one, each of us was sent flying, having failed our missions against the Mushroom kings. Then, it was me._

_I flew for what seemed eons, but my flight ended eventually, with my shell harshly landing and becoming incrusted into the gritty soil of the Darklands. A terrible whiplash afflicted my back, and thus, I sight began to fail; everything went black. I would later wake at the Troops'__infirmary, in a modestly decorated room reserved for the elites. I get up to read the prognosis of my bodily health, and discover that my earthquake ability would be forever gone due to my fall. But, even through the pain of my ailing back and affronted pride, I traversed the entire locale to see if my siblings were in good health, or at least being treated. _

_I find and walk into Larry's hospital room, and he seems fine, showing off his loot of wallets he stole from the other Troopers. That broken arm does make me wonder how he'd do it. Morton… Mor… [Deep sigh] What happened in the recent past is of no concern of mine for now. Anyway, he was in the adjacent room, and I see through the window that doctor treating him was wearing earplugs and uttered an occasional "Uh huh," as my dark skinned brother talked on and on while getting his bandages removed._

_Next was Wendy, across the hall, a few rooms further down. Before I could walk in, the smell of nail polish and acetone polluted the air, and her screechy voice was demanding something about her favorite TV show. Typical of her. But how can she stand such nauseating stench of those trivial, feminine cosmetics? I let her be, knowing she was in too good of health after hearing demanding screech of a pampered teenage girl, and continued to where Iggy was. I opened his door and see his favorite baby chain chomp on his lap. Iggy, bandaged head to toe in clean bandages, except for his hands, hair, and posterior part of his face, laughs and waves. Someone remembered to give him his meds._

"_Luddy! You got your tail kicked too, I assume?"_

_I had much pain everywhere. Sarcasm was my immediate medicine. "How'd you guess?"_

"_Aw, don't be like that! Especially not in front of my cutesie, little chompy!"_

"_You we're hit to many times in the head, I assume?"_

_I turned away as he and his pet cuddled together, feeling somewhat disturbed. He always seemed like a lunatic, but he had this soft spot for his eccentric pets. Onto Roy's. I casually walk inside, only to hear glass breaking and a bed being flipped over. Out of all the things that would require use of eye bleach, I had the misfortune of seeing beach Koopa Roy, scowling and furiously looking at a frightened Koopa holding onto Roy's shell, with cheaply done repairs, grossly purple patches standing out amidst the hot pink carapace._

"_What the Underwhere is this junk? I ain't wearing that ghetto…!"_

_I clear my throat, catching his attention._

"_What?"_

"_That's my question to you."_

"_Dis foo' mess up my shell! That ain't cool, yo!"_

_'__A thief, a chatter box, a materialist, a psycho, and now an exhibitionist that wears a manly pink, no less. What a refined family I have!' I thought, but I continued on with my inquiries. _

_"Make haste, and cover your loins! I'll be back after checking on Lemmy."_

"_The squirt? Nah, man, he ain't here yet."_

_My heart almost stopped. 'He should've been here already; Iced Land was the closest realm to the Darklands!'_

_I ignored my health and ran out, forgetting to close Roy's door (I doubt he cared, really). I dashed toward an airship docked near the infirmary, and demanded to be taken to the frozen country. It was the only place I could think of that moment; no other location seemed plausible. On route to the cold kingdom, I spewed a bit of blood, due to agitating my own body, but I didn't care. I had to find my petite brother._

_I constantly kept brushing of my cohorts trying to look after my wellbeing, and I almost suffocate one of them with my hands. We eventually found a body, my brother's, after countless hours into the night searching for him. He had landed in a mysterious valley among the mountainous terrain. He was sitting upright, eyes closed, which I immediately took into suspicion. We land, and as I could, went over to my tiny brother, only to be greeted by a shadow, which took possession of him. Lemmy opened his eyes; and evil blue light emanated from them. He assumed a fight stance, ready to attack me._

"_Ludwig."_

_I'm speechless. His voice is unrecognizable._

"_Ludwig."_

_I look at him intently._

"_Wake up, Wiseguy!"_

…

Ludwig snaps out of his trance, and sees the horrid, blue hued eyes of his rainbow haired brother staring back. He had been on his trip down memory lane for most of the day; he had not noticed the sun about to set, around same time as the Angry Sun fiasco back with our heroes in Desert Hill. Many of the dock workers were finishing their labors for the day, either mending their fishnets, counting inventory, among many things.

"About time, Ludwig," uttered Lemmy with his unrecognizable, deep voice.

The eldest Koopaling spots a random trail of green puddles coming from a distance, ending beneath his brother. From Lemmy's right hand and forearm dripped thick, greenish ooze, to which Ludwig concluded was Pianta blood. Ludwig furrows his blue brows, and confronts his pygmy sibling.

"We agreed that there would be no bloodshed yet."

Lemmy nonchalantly replies, "Weenie or Vinny, or whatever, wanted to play rough, so I decided to… join his game. That, shall we say, deed, bought us the Don's alliance." Lemmy snickers which slowly turns into a demented cackling, earning the angry stares of the dock workers near their vicinity. "So, let's go to Ishnail's; he's next."

Ludwig scoffs as Lemmy begins walking toward East Side as the onlookers kept an eye in the yellow pony-tailed Koopaling. Ludwig then joins his brother, and head into the dirty part of Rougeport. Random sets of eyes glistened in the shadows, intently watching the infamous pair of Koopalings. Lemmy holds out his arm, prompting Ludwig to stop walking. They're by an old, abandoned, red brick factory in the East Side. He knocks on a dull green, metallic door three times, and later makes a loud spitting noise, accompanied by an icy loogie.

The door creaks open, revealing the musty and dimly lit interior. A vulture-esque creature named Gus stoically greeted him at the door. At a distant right, stood a gang of around ten to fifteen males, their leader, Ishnail, sitting on a recently stolen, black leather chair. The snail-shelled leader is leaning his arms on a table with his hands clasped in front of his mouth, but quickly peers at the ensuing conversation at the entrance.

"Well, if it ain't the Wiseguy that Albino called about. And his bro the li'l squirt ta boot!"

"I do have a fine, formal name; Ludwig von Koopa, indignant to have met your acquaintance, you pugnacious fowl."

Lemmy looks at Ludwig and slyly remarks in his deep voice, "So, the stuck-up puke has the guts to talk trash?"

Gus swished his spear across Lemmy's rainbow Mohawk, and sneered. "Just 'cus you got business wit' us don't mean I am letting ya off the hook, shortie!"

Lemmy quickly grabs the spears handle, surprising the bird thug. His eyes flash in a sinister blue while he quickly freezes the wooden pole, later crushing it with his bare hand. The spearhead clanks on the smooth and dusty factory floor, Gus stumbles back and sweat drops.

"Oh crud! I was kiddin', jerks! Man, I wonder how you little Koopaling will look like to readers… if this was a story, that is."

Lemmy chuckles, and then looks at Ludwig. "I have some of the Master's things to take care of with these… shall we say, cohorts. Wait out here, no?"

Ludwig silently complies as Ishnail walks toward Gus, his shoes making a squishing sound the closer he got, sounding like shoes drenched inside with water. He smacks his underling across the back of his head. Ludwig furrows his brows as Ishnail closes the door and Lemmy walks in alone.

"I hear you are looking for another strong weapon?"

"What about it, Ishnail?"

"I hear it is a prize at the Glitzpit in three weeks. But I also hear that due to high winds, the Glitzville sky island will reach Nimbus Land, same time. It's going to be big."

Lemmy scoffs. "Roy can get that later. But, what about you all? How can you help us with…?"

"Oh, you mean…? Yes, yes, come over here and…"

The green, creaky door is shut, and the voices slowly faded into an indiscernible chatter; Ludwig sighs and claps his Koopa hands behind his blue shell, waiting for the meeting to end.

-o-

**A long chapter, but I think worth it. Vinny is one of Don Pianta's henchmen. These two, Ishnail, Gus, and the locales are from the Paper Mario series. The desert side of the story resumes next time!**


	18. One Knight, Two Nights

**One Knight, Two Nights**

**Location:** Oasis over an underground inn in Desert Hill

Night fell once more upon the desert realm. Yoshi, Daisy, and Morton Jr. found themselves lying on their backs, staring at the clear, starry sky. As per usual, Morton babbled on and on, first about his cosmic flatulence earlier in the day, then about how he conquered Desert Hill years back, and now about how some Koopas see Yoshis as an assorted selection of rainbow colored donkeys. A dry, cold desert wind blew across the oasis. Yoshi shivered due to the frigid wind, and his normally scaly skin got a fair amount of goosebumps. He got up began to head down to the underground inn built underneath the watering hole of the oasis.

"I'm heading downstairs."

"Aww, Yosh," complained Daisy, "but we're having so much fun!"

"Yeah, chump," added Morton Jr., "You ain't leaving 'til you say a story."

Yoshi crossed his hands and smiled smugly as he counters the chatty Koopaling, "And get interrupted by you like the last three times I tried?" He cocks his head to the right, as Morton stammered.

"Well, um, he he, you see…"

Suddenly, a nocturnal Pokey, leapt out of the sand in their vicinity. It began to viciously chuck pieces of itself at the trio. Still feeling in a cheerful spirit, Daisy managed to somehow pull Morton Jr.'s shell off, and threw it at the Pokey and completely tumbling the baddie down, earning herself a strike.

"Ha! Another strike! Guess what you two owe me now?"

Morton gruff sigh comes from behind a nearby rock as he replaces his shell, while Yoshi nonchalantly responds as he shivers due to the desert chill, "Spicy cheese puffs. Can we just go in already?"

After the failed assault of the nocturnal Pokey, the three decide to head down (after Yoshi ate the rest of the Pokey). The entrance of the underground inn was carved out of the desert limestone, and a heat resistant wooden door was fixed the entryway's rusty hinges. Yoshi went in first to acquire the keys for their rooms. Morton goes next, but gets wedged in tightly. Yoshi continues down the winding stairs as Daisy struggles from the outside to get the corpulent Koopaling in.

Once inside the underground inn, Yoshi went over to the innkeeper's desk next to the doorway to get the two keys for the rooms they reserved couple hours ago. This inn had an enormous reception room, its dirt walls adorned with exquisite tapestries unique to the area and ornate wall candle sticks, fixed with slow burning candles which somehow lit the vast room well. It also doubled as the kitchen and dining room; the salty and tantalizing aromas of the desert cuisine lingered in the air, making Yoshi's mouth water. Two other doorways, one labeled _Hot Springs_ and the other _Lodgings_ led to their respective places. Deep pits used to exist in that underground area, but well filled during its construction in years past.

One he got the keys and some toiletries, Daisy and Morton Jr. come rolling in, crash landing at Yoshi's feet. Daisy jumps up and cheers for herself, as Morton lay on the floor dizzy, with spirals in his eyes. Yoshi just raised a brow, being both amused and annoyed.

"WOOOOH! Let's do that again, Morty!"

"My tummy…"

Yoshi sighs and tries to remain positive. "How about we get a meal, and then take a dip in the hot springs?"

"Sounds like a perfect plan to me, Yosh!"

"Five more minutes, dad…" garbled Morton.

Long story short, they get their meal, nearly get kicked out because Morton wouldn't shut up, and took a relaxing dip in the 'hot springs' powered by water heaters built into the inn. They get dressed to go to bed; Daisy goes to her room while Yoshi and Morton go to theirs. Before Morton Jr. walked into the _Lodgings_ hallway, a flash of orangey-bluish light radiated in the large reception room. The source seemed to have come from outside, but Morton was the only one awake to see it, even the receptionist was asleep. He runs inside his room; Yoshi was already inside and slumped on his bed.

"YOSH, YOSH, YOSH, YOSH, YOSH! Did you see that? A weird…"

"I had enough of your talking all day, dude! One more peep out of you and I'll…"

Yoshi was too relaxed to actually threaten the Koopaling, and suddenly fell asleep, a snot bubble inflating and deflating on his nose. Although worried, Morton Jr. went to bed as well.

…

The next morning, the three ate their breakfast, and left the inn, making sure to take Stuffwell 2.0 with them.

Yoshi hugs the suitcase as he says, "I almost always forget Professor Egad's thingamabob. Daisy, hands off." Yoshi makes sure Daisy doesn't get it again, and slaps her hand away from the handle.

"So what is this WiiMe thing?" asked Daisy as she somehow got the device, poking her finger on a certain spot of the WiiU-like contraption. "Is it a GPS or a…? OWW!"

Her finger gets pricked, and a bead of blood slowly flowed out the wound. Before a loud commotion ensued, the device made a beeping noise and said in a robotic tone, "DAI-SY, LO-CA-TION, 5 IN-CHES, RIGHT."

Ohhhh!" the three went, just as a local caravan was announcing its departure toward the western pyramid town they were heading to. They rush outside as Yoshi yanks away the WiiMe and stashes it away.

They nimbly smuggled themselves into a cart full of imported hay and struggled the entire trip to keep Morton quiet. The travel over to the pyramid town was long and tedious, but eventually, all three got there safe, late at night. The nomads 'parked' on the outskirts of the town, and pull the cart full of hay into the town square, the costume festival's main area for that night.

**Location:** Festival at the Pyramid Town near the royal palace.

The costume festival was an annual event in Desert Hill where Toads, bandits, and other desert creatures came to the pyramids close to the king's palace, and, well, dressed up as famous characters from other universes. Some were mediocre; some were difficult to tell from the actual character. Anyway, the nomads, who were Toads from Dry Dry Outpost, began unloading the hay, eventually revealing the sleeping trio. Daisy got up first and stretched.

"Who are you? How did you get in?" demanded one of the Toad nomads.

Daisy replied while yawning, "Hmm? Ooh, hey, I'm Daisy…"

"Wow, that is the worst Daisy impersonation I've ever heard," said another nomad, "Your outfit and make up are very good, though."

Before Daisy responded, Morton yawned loudly and got up as he scratched his butt, while Yoshi just sat up, feeling a bit grouchy. Some of the older Toads squint, and later yelled in unison when they finally recognized the dark skinned Koopaling.

"Sound the alarm! We're under attack! Morton Jr. is BACK! And he even brought a Boomerang Bro. with a swollen beak!"

A mob formed rapidly and surrounded the three. Morton Jr. was flabbergasted too stunned to try and escape, while Yoshi was too sleepy to notice they were in danger of getting lynched. Many Toads in the mob had actually cosplayed as Daisy, repeating the annoying phrase "HI! I'm Daisy!", much to Daisy's chagrin.

'No wonder they don't recognize me,' she thought.

Suddenly, a firecracker of orange and blue flashed among the group, and blinded the mob. A fast shadowy figure flew at the three, and said to Morton and Daisy, "Can you two still see?"

Daisy and Morton, being a bit blinded themselves, rub their eyes and nod, realizing it would be difficult to get seen by the dazzled crowd, something this mysterious character seemed to have caught on beforehand.

He replies, "Good. Big fellow, you carry sleepy head. Both of you, come with me."

While Yoshi is being carried by Morton, the stranger and the others run into the mob and lose themselves among the confusion. While the mob is recovering from the blinding light, the four go into a costume tent, and place a "Changing" sign on the outside and zipped the tent shut. Inside there was a large assortment of costumes and make-up. The character lights up an archaic desert oil lamp with a torch inside his left pinky. Daisy and Morton don't recognize him, but at this moment, Yoshi, who is facing backwards on Morton's shoulder, finally gets off and slowly turns around.

"Your spikes hurt my belly, Morton. What did all of those people wa-aa-aa-ANT?! Geno?!"

The wooden doll replies calmly, "It has been a while since the last time we met. It was during a race, wasn't it? [He shakes his head.] What am I saying? We don't have time for a friendly chat. Let's all get acquainted later. Princess, you'll be fine for now, but can you put this green skin paint on… Morton, was it? Hey, star faced Koopa. [Morton points at himself] Yes, you. Wear this."

Yoshi, still startled, blurted while Geno is handing a white and purple outfit to Morton, "How come you're here?" He looks around his feet. "Ah! Stuffwell! It's still on the cart!"

Geno throws a Link outfit at him. "Wear that. That way we can walk around freely and get it easily. Once we cross the mountain, we'll talk then." The three others just stood looking at the doll blankly and mute. Geno sighs. "I know why you three are here; it is to bust the shark pirate out of the desert prison. I'm here to join you."

-o-

**The inn is based on Level 2-4 in SMB 3. Also, one word… GENO!**

**Next time: Beginning of the "Desert Breakout Saga". **


	19. Forbidden Wish and the Festival Escape

**_As chaos slowly unfurls in the known parts of the Mushroom World, a band has emerged to stop the growing menace. Though at the beginning of their quest, the situation with some heroes missing has only been aggravated by more getting abducted. Until certain tasks are done, they will venture into unheard of realms outside the scope of the Mushroom Kingdom's influence, beyond the seas. For now, it's a race against time to rescue the pirate Johnny._**

**Heroes**

**Yoshi:**fruit and party loving de facto leader, and first to embark on the quest to save Mario and Co., puts up with the other members' immaturity

**Daisy:** princess of Sarasaland, strong but clumsy tomboy with an insane obsession with cheese puffs

**Morton Jr.:** the babbling Koopaling joins Daisy's antics, seemingly hiding a sad past, the most naïve member

**Geno:** newest member, the glue of the team and voice of reason. Not much has been revealed about his reasons of joining…

**Enemies**

**The Master**- not much is known or revealed about him other than him single-handedly defeating the Koopa Troop and turning Bowser into his new toy (literally).

**Ludwig von Koopa**- one of the Master's main brains and elite fighter; has a grudge against Bowser for being demoted to minions, but under his façade has a tender spot for his siblings

**Lemmy Koopa**- from happy-go-luck to now a blood thirsting thug, this Koopaling strives to follow the Master's orders to the 'T'

**Don Albino**- one of the Master's most trusted subordinates with a mobster's attitude

**Slyklyde**- a poison-spiting three-headed serpent, a Tryclyde look-alike capable of discreet manipulation

**Forbidden Wish and the Festival Escape**

**Location:** Kingdom of Desert Hill, Prison Complex

Meanwhile on the same evening at the prison, the Fire Bro. Duo, Hitatsu and Draco, venture into the prison again, in search of the fabled Bubble fruit, rumored to be hidden within its impenetrable walls. Being "faithful customers," the guards let them have access to the facility's entirety, and had the Tootankoopa looking guard (which was really the tar clone made by Slyklyde) accompany them. Hitatsu was fuming and frustrated that they were going nowhere with the search.

"This is just great, Draco! We've searched the place at least twice! And zilch, dude. Nada!"

Draco, although uncomfortable with the Tootankoopa-like guard's presence, replies, "Com' on, Hitatsu. If you think about it, there must be secret passages, rooms or something."

"Draco! Dude, are we playing video games? How stupid and cliché is that, dude?"

"Well, slap me already, won't 'cha? Sheesh, it was just a thought. But if we go to the warden's office, he'll most likely give us the map of the place... [He stops to clasp his chin while looking up.] If he has it, that is."

"Dude, we have to pass that stupid shark's tank to get there. And seriously, dude, do you think it will be that easy?"

"Has it not been so far?"

Hitatsu stops to sigh with a bit of flame in his breath. Both Fire Bros. and the Tootankoopa doppelganger find themselves close to Johnny's tank, where the water surface is now barely covering his gills. He says while looking at the emaciated shark pirate, "Let's hurry up and do this, dude. Ludwig and Lemmy are going to be here any minute, and we need that fruit, dude. Once we do, we turn this place into a heap of rubble and hand over the shark to them, dude."

As they head towards the warden's office, Johnny struggles to open his right eye, having heard everything. His flippers are now a sickly purple bruise mess, his ribs popped out more, his back has terrible sunburn, and his youthful blue is now a brownish blue. He is trembling as he struggles to stay afloat, and struggles to breathe, each heavy wheeze accompanied by uncontrollable trembling.

Before passing out again, he thinks, 'Me life be endin', by Jove, too soon. If they be hearin' me... Me wish to th' stars… let me live... me wish… to see her again...'

**Location:** Kingdom of Desert Hill, Costume Festival in the Pyramid Town

Back in the costume festival, the four are walking about freely toward the town square. There are still some armed Toad and desert doogan guards walking around, but do not suspect our heroes one bit.

Previously, Geno had Yoshi dress up as Link, and Morton Jr. painted with green face paint and dressed to resemble Piccolo, someone from another fandom. Daisy is being herself, and blends in quite well with the other crazy Daisies. Geno was quite the sensation, occasionally asked to pose for a selfie, and Morton Jr. and Yoshi were snacking with popcorn and Desert Hill's caramelized confections.

While Morton talked away with a random Toad kid, and Geno was surrounded by groupies, Yoshi sniffed about the many aromas of delicious desert delicacies. Suddenly, an arm grabs him by his left shoulder.

"Yosh, Yosh, Yosh! There it is! That Thingood suitcase 2000!"

Yoshi sees it was Daisy, and looks at the cart where she pointed at, parts of the suitcase slightly exposed. He pouts and replies while Morton is chomping away at some caramelized apples he 'borrowed' from the Toad kid, "It's Stuffwell 2.0, Daisy."

Geno joins them and interjects while rubbing his chin, "We need to get the guards away from the cart, somehow." He removes his hat to check inside. "Hmmm… I don't have anything to make a diversion, [he looks around the bazaar] and trying something out in the open will grab this riled crowd's attention. Yoshi, what do you suggest? Uh, Yoshi?"

Geno looks behind him, but only sees Morton Jr. catching Daisy trying to steal his cheese puffs from inside his shell. To his left was an amateur cook frying some imported mushrooms, and next to him was a lanky Toad clad in deep indigo WaLuigi overalls selling fish tacos, but no Yoshi slobbering over food. To his right, some Goomba girl was crying over spilled milk and a shaman woman similar in look to Merluvlee selling many costumes in her desert tent shop.

While Daisy and Morton argued over the cheese puffs, Geno thought, 'Where did that green dinosaur go? There's no fresh fruit here, and he's not by the foods stands. What else does he like?'

"Whoa check out that dude in the Link outfit!" called out a male voice from inside a large, multi-colored tent (although the evening shade made colors somewhat difficult to tell apart). Inside was a stage veiled by two red curtains, which had two small but crudely sown, blue patches on the left one. Geno remembered Yoshi had that outfit, so he neared the tent as the curtains unfurled even further to the sides, pondering what Yoshi was up to.

**_{ /v_OLPr0_c2s link on profile}_**

Yoshi, while still dressed as Link, sat behind some bongos as some nomadic Toads played their desert musical instruments. While the music played, some ninji did some acrobatic stuns involving ninji pyramids and jumping through fiery hoops. Cobrats jumped from their jars into the dry evening desert air in an entertaining pattern, sometimes synchronizing a jump into a different vase, earning the cheers and claps of the ecstatic crowd. Yoshi had fun providing a very rhythmic and energetic beat, typical of Yoshi parties, thus invigorating the other performers more that usual.

Geno replaces his hat as he states amidst his chortles, "Should have known! Just like the famous saying, 'You can take a Yoshi out of a party, but you can't take the party out of a Yoshi.'" He chuckles again. "Well, this is a nice problem to have."

By this time, Daisy and Morton (who is still dressed and painted as Piccolo) had made their way next to Geno, and completely forgot about Stuffwell when they began witnessing the spirited entertainment.

"Yeah! You go, Yosh! WOOOOO!" cheered Daisy.

Morton Jr. couldn't contain his excitement either… "Cool! Awesome! Rad! Hey, Luddy! Come and check this…" He looks around and realizes only Daisy and Geno are there. Tears well up in his eyes and his chest began to shake. He begins to run while covering his teary eyes with his right arm, running over or pushing away random doogans and desert Toads. He catches the attention of some of the creatures and guards in the vicinity, but they think nothing of it.

Daisy turns as he began wailing and goes after him. "Morty! Don't… Aw, man! Just when the fire snakes were about to start."

Geno, forgetting about Stuffwell and Yoshi for a bit, chases after Daisy and catches up to her, grabbing her left shoulder.

"Daisy, got any idea about what's wrong?"

"How should I know? All I know is that he came and collapsed in front of my castle door some weeks ago."

Geno let's out a slightly frustrated sigh. "Seems to me that this whole issue with that Koopaling is deeper, and may tie in to the whole domination fiasco."

"Well, aren't you the smart one?" remarked Daisy as she grabbed her hips.

Geno slaps his forehead. "Ugh, that's right! Our mission to help you bust… uh, visit our friend that, uh, **lives**, close by."

"You mean busting out John…?"

Geno quickly covers her mouth, and whisper, "Shh! That's a secret. Besides, we need to get Morton A.S.A.P. before more drama happens. Let's leave Yoshi for now, he can find us later."

Both turn to go after Morton Jr., but bump into a big Clubba, a Desert Hill guard patrolling the area. The Clubba looks very upset and is holding Morton by the right shoulder.

"Is this your child?"

Geno blurts out in the spur of the moment, "Well, um, [clears throat] yeah, sure, he's… ours?"

"Isn't he just lovely?" added Daisy, smiling sarcastically, faker that the crazy Daisies around. Geno follows suit, although rather uncomfortably, and blushes (through his wooden face, no less) realizing what he just said.

"This is a family event, not a daycare! Don't let it happen again!"

"We won't," replied Daisy and Geno, giving each other a nervous look.

The Clubba guard had not noticed he had stepped on the cloak Morton wore, and as soon as he handed Morton over, the three began walking away and _YANK!_ The cloak came off and their cover got blown, er, pulled away. The guards in the vicinity didn't take a notice immediately, but the civilian Toads and Mousers did, and began throwing non-lethal objects at Morton Jr. As the commotion grew louder, guards started noticing, and began to take arms.

As the three began getting surrounded, a driver in the same wooden cart the original three arrived in swerved next to them, and a familiar voice called out, "Hop on!" In the confusion of thing, they do, and they race through the crowd, many of them jumping out of the way of the speeding wagon being pulled by four ostros. The guards rained darts, arrows and spears on them, with an occasional one pulling out a fire flower. Most had a bad aiming, although a spear impaled the board near Morton's horrified face.

"Cease fire!" yelled one of them, which wore a slightly more ornate uniform than the rest. "You scumbags will hit the civilians! And with your 'oh so amazing' aim, it's no wonder we got taken over by that overweight chatterbox!"

The yelling eventually died out due to distance, and the four heroes dashed toward the entrance of the restricted area of Desert Hill. Daisy gets up from among the hay, but trips on Stuffwell 2.0 and lands inside the hay again.

Geno turns at the driver while Daisy's muffled grunts are heard. "Who are you?"

The driver turns. "What d'ya mean? I'm Yoshi!" Indeed it was.

"How'd you get the cart?" inquired Geno.

"I really don't know either. A prize for participating on the show, I guess?"

Geno shrugs. "Something seems out of place. You know, that feeling when reading a story and it somehow feels rushed or too convenient?"

"I don't read books often, Geno," responded Yoshi as the Link hat flew off his head.

"Doesn't matter, Yoshi. Well, we have a job to do."

Daisy pops out of her hay imprisonment with a loud, exaggerated gasp. She turns to Geno as Morton pulls out his last cheese puff bag.

"Hey, Gee. Ya know… He, he. Gee, and know."

"Very clever, Daisy," Yoshi called out along with a sarcastic snort.

"I know, huh? But Gee, why did you join us? Last time I heard, you guys successfully repaired Starry Path, and you went back home."

-o-

**A/N: Who does Johnny want to see? Why is it necessary for Johnny and this fruit to be delivered to the Master and Koopalings? And OOOH! Next time, some juicy gossip… not really, but please, enjoy the chapter.**


	20. Requiem's Prelude

**_As chaos slowly unfurls in the known parts of the Mushroom World, Yoshi travels around the known world, gathering friends and allies, to stop the growing menace. Although for now, it's a race against time to rescue the pirate Johnny. If successful, they will venture into unheard of realms outside the scope of the Mushroom Kingdom's influence, beyond the seas, in hopes to find clues about the enemy faction, or the four missing heroes (Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad)._**

**Heroes**

**Yoshi:**fruit and party loving de facto leader, and first on the quest to save Mario and Co.

**Daisy:** princess of Sarasaland, strong but clumsy tomboy with an insane obsession with cheese puffs

**Morton Jr.:** the babbling and naïve Koopaling, victim of randomness

**Geno:** wisest of the group, the glue of the team and voice of reason.

**Enemies**

**The Master**- not much is known or revealed about him other than him single-handedly defeating the Koopa Troop and turning Bowser into his new toy (literally).

**Slyklyde**- a poison-spiting three-headed serpent, a Tryclyde palette swap

**Hitatsu**- leader of the two Fire Bros. in the secret area of Desert Hill, highly materialistic and confident in his abilities,

**Draco**- the other Fire Bro. He seems to over think things…

**Requiem's Prelude**

**Location:** Kingdom of Desert Hill, Prison Complex, a good distance away from the warden's office

"Hey, Hitatsu. I don't know... I have this weird feeling in my gut that this whole business with the Koopalings is deeper than it seems," whispered Draco to the leader of the duo as both were a fair distance away from the warden's office, a map of the subterranean maze in their hands.

The shirtless Fire Bro. leader sighs a cool flame again, and hastily lands a solid hit into his partner's stomach, leaving the other Fire Bro. of the pair gasping for air and squirming on the prison's gritty brick floor. The part of the map he held onto plopped on the floor without delay.

"Draco, dude," snapped Hitatsu intently, but is quiet enough to not be heard from far, "We already got this far getting that shark, and now we need that fruit, dude. As long as these jail fools don't suspect a thing about our plans, I don't care why they be doing this, dude. All I want is to get the she-bang, the booty."

Draco gasps and trembles as he tries to stand upright by leaning on his legs. "Materialistic... jerk. Money isn't... everything..."

"It is for me, dude. And frankly, it has brought you along too good as well. Dude."

"But, but, if we could have just struck a deal with them and their allies, why use this jail?"

Hitatsu scoffs and gives his partner a knowing look. "To get money from the government too, dude. Duh! And you know how those Koopalings do; three smacks to the head is **all** it takes, dude. Seriously, what can go wrong, dude? It's not like some ninja and his dudes are coming and plan to bust the pirate out of here."

Draco's heavy breathing eases to a calmer pace; both Fire Bros. resume walking to a passage leading to an underground cavern. He continues as his voice sounds more and more distant and the echoing taps of their walking dispel into the solace of the jail halls, "Hope you're right…"

The shape of Slyklyde's tar clone, Tootankoopa look-alike, is seen in the shadows of a nearby passage, having heard their conversation…

**Location:** Kingdom of Desert Hill, En route to the prison

After about two hours of leaving the city on their newly acquired cart, the four heroes are now about 15 minutes away from the mountain blocking the path toward the "III" shaped lake dubbed _San Lake,_ and the high security prison. A cold, evening desert breeze whistled throughout and a full moon shone brightly. Daisy finished removing the green face paint from a sleeping Morton, Geno took some dark garbs from inside his hat, and Yoshi yawned as he still drove the wagon.

"Well, so much for our 'cover up' mess," scoffed Geno, letting out a couple of chortles, "At least we got Stuffwell back."

Daisy begins pulling at Yoshi's left arm. "Come on, Yosh! You've been hogging the wheel for a looooong time. It's my turn!"

"No way, crazy Daisy! I don't want to repeat another crash like the one on your copter."

"But…"

"We'll be fine just the way we are," interjected Geno, "Guess you'll have to handle this one yourself, Yoshi."

"Heard that, Daisy?" Yoshi smiles a "victorious", toothy grin.

"Oh, you… just be quiet! You still owe me a bag of spicy cheese puffs! How 'bout that, Yosh?"

"What if I told Morton what happened to his bag while he told his story?"

Daisy pouts as Yoshi wears a smug grin this time. "Please don't tell him," she says innocently.

Geno clears his throat to get both their attention. Morton flips around as he lets out some juicy, mucous-filled snores, nearly smacking Geno across the face. "Whoa there, tiger! Ahem, at least we have his side of the story. It was really hard sorting all the information Morton Jr. rambled about. I finally got the meaning to it all…"

"And a headache too, I take it?" interrupted Yoshi as he rubbed his Yoshi temples, "Seriously, how can he talk for two hours straight?"

"Aww, Yosh. Don't tease our poor little Morty!"

"''Our' is correct," continues Geno as he samples some black outfits, "That poor guy! If I pieced everything correctly, Morton was dismissed of the Koopaling faction and the Koopa Troop because of his clumsiness and outright random events. What tipped off the scales was accidentally foiling his father's grand scale plan to invade the Mushroom Kingdom again right about the Star Gala Ball, if I understood correctly. Being notorious already and with nowhere to go, my wild guess is that he just wandered until he just collapsed in front of Daisy's castle."

Daisy scratches her head. "I remember that when I returned from the Ball, my guards locked him in a cell, but he looked so lonely and cute with those teary eyes, and I let him out to play tennis, but he accidentally used his partner as the ball when we played doubles. I miss that guard too…"

"Easy there, Daisy. Don't bust out a Morton now," retorts Yoshi, "But Geno, you leave me like a doogan saying 'Wow, wow.' How long are you staying with us? We need your brain power!"

"Until we fix your world's problem… and mine."

A chilling silence descends which makes the desert wind howling about seem warm. Daisy and Yoshi look at each other, then at Geno. Geno looks pensively off into the eastern horizon as he leans on the cart's side wall.

"That Gala Ball… that event started it all. The next day, the Princess and the Kingdom's main heroes go missing; we at Star Road soon receive their rescue wish. Six days later, the unprecedented event that shocked the Mushroom World: the defeat of the entire Koopa Troop by a single guy referred to as 'the Master'. Whoever this guy is, he's a mastermind genius." Yoshi (still driving the Ostro drawn cart) and Daisy look incredulous at this point.

"I don't blame you for your unbelief. Check this out… Days after, he first disposes of Merlon, the best in the world to show anyone their next move. They then wreck the sanctuary of Star Haven, destroy the Star Rod, and seal the honorable star spirits into tarot cards. Then… then… [He bangs his fist against the wood while he scowls] Lemmy Koopa and three others destroyed my home. Without a physical body like yours, we star spirits of Star Road were completely annihilated. I managed to escape because of orders from my higher authority, but now all seven pieces now belong to them. With the power of wishes from the stars gone null, I'm afraid those wishes will remain unanswered for a while."

"Heey! How about we answer that call, eh, Gee? Yosh?"

Yoshi turns and winks. "As long as we include food and music in all this." He turns and sees the mountain range dividing the kingdom in to approaching. "Hey guys, were getting close to get this show on the road."

Geno chuckles as he approaches Yoshi and taps his right shoulder. "Yo, that's my line! That reminds me." He pulls out the outfits. "We need to be stealthy about this jailbreak, so I picked these up while you and Morton Jr. changed. Black ninja outfits."

Daisy goes to get one but seems iffy about getting one. "I don't know, Gee. I get a bad feeling about this."

"Don't worry princess," affirmed Geno, "After the Smithy gang ordeal, I know for sure this is deeper than just random kidnappings and deliriousness of certain species. Additionally, we can't have you, Sarasaland's monarch, in harms way."

"I can still fight!" whined Daisy.

"True. I just don't know how things will turn out. I suppose I can give you a ninja outfit too. [Turns to Yoshi] Yosh, can you wake Morton up? And can you both get into these ninja outfits. Let's see if I fit in mine."

…

The four ostros that tugged the cart angrily peck at ninja Morton as he tries to stuff them inside Stuffwell 2.0, with the cart already inside. Everybody else gawks in awe, already dressed in ninja apparel.

"I can't believe how tall these hills are!" pondered Geno.

"I can't imagine how we'll get to the other side!" added Yoshi.

"I can't wait to start our new adventure!" squealed Daisy.

Morton fell backwards, sporting a black left eye, swollen checks, and a bleeding lower lip. "I can't underthand how a big rolley thingy and four birdieth fit inthide a thmall thing…" he moaned.

"Video game logic, my friend," responded Geno.

"But Gee, this is real life!" retorted Daisy.

Geno cups his right wooden hand on his mouth. _"I wonder what they'll do if I break it to them. Hey, reader! Yes, you on the other side of the screen! You know you can hear me!"_

"Gee, who're you talking to?" inquired Daisy, squinting suspiciously at the wooden doll.

"Um… don't worry about it. Let's get this show on the road."

**Location:** Rougeport, outside Ishsnail's lair

Lemmy walks out of Ishsnail's. As he exits, Gus is on his knees, clasping his thawing throat as he desperately gasps for warm air. Ishsnail is still leaning on his clasped hands at his leather seat, sporting a disappointed glare at the Koopaling pair outside his pad. Ludwig leans next to the metallic door as he looks off to the side, tapping his right index on his left arm.

"Have you reached upon an agreement?" There is a hint of impatience in his voice.

Lemmy mockingly sticks his tongue out. "Hey, Lud, why the rush? Don't tell me you're scared of Mobsterville?"

"On the contrary. My prominent status has more than likely have already reached this fetid land of repulsive urchins. As you can clearly see, all conflict against a vastly superior opponent as myself has effectively been avoided, just as a butter knife avoids being used on a steak."

Lemmy sarcastically interjects, "Oh. And would they know which fork is used for a salad, and which spoon for ice cream?"

Ludwig furrows his brow and assumes a fighting stance as his lights up his left hand in blue lightning. "Stop spewing your nonsense. Or should I… school you on that?"

Lemmy replies, both in stance and word, "Lovely. Nothing be better." He licks his upper lip. "I'm sure the Master won't mind us being late to our… task."

Ludwig stops, realizing then wasn't the time. "What novelty is there to know?"

Lemmy stands down as well. "Oh, just that it's in our best interest to win the Glitzville prizes. Or steal them, don't matter. The point is to get the second prize, although the other awards aren't too shabby either."

Both begin walking back to the new Rougeport station. "Is that so? How very intriguing! Tell me more along the way. Once we get back to the Klown Kar, we call the Master and collect our loot upon arrival at the desert penitentiary. And if all goes well, my plan shall commence shortly."

-o-

**Some questions are getting answered. But, what does Ludwig have in mind? Why are the Gliztville prizes important? And why are cheesepuffs even part of this story? Next time: A battle in the Beanbean Kingdom and our heroes knock at the gates of the prison**


	21. Heroes! Hasten your Rescue!

**_The Mushroom Kingdom... always relatively peaceful with Bowser's occasional interference. That is, until a growing menace appears and shifts that balance to his favor. What is the motive behind the kidnappings, experiments, and alliances? For now, the pirate Johnny is the trump card to follow, his being is at stake. Will his timely rescue come to fruition, or will his demise come to pass?_**

**Heroes**

**Yoshi, Daisy, Morton Jr., Geno:** on a mission to rescue the shark pirate, Jonathan Jones, with the risk of being branded as criminals.

**Enemies**

**The Master**- victor over the Koopa Troop and main malefactor of the world

**Slyklyde**- a poison-spiting three-headed serpent, a Tryclyde pallete swap

**Cloaked minions**- so far, many of the minions mentioned have been either shadowed out or completely cloaked. All that is known so far is the attacks of some, verbal ticks, and the name 'Octetos' from one of the earlier chapters.

**Heroes! Hasten your Rescue!**

**Location:** Ruins of the Beanbean Kingdom

A reverent moon gleams a depressing glow across the devastated land. A haunting desolation ran rampant across the once lively plains, full of life and florescent flora. Beanish soldiers lay bruised and unconscious as far as vision would permit. Iggy came crashing from a dense forest to the clearing near the ruined castle and town with his three chain chomp-drawn chariot. He cackles like a sadist, mad scientist.

"HA, HA, HA, HA! WHO'S NEXT? WHO WANTS TO WHIMPER AT THE MERCY OF MY CUTESY CHOMPIES? WHO? WHO! MWA, HA, HA, HA! LET THE CARNAGE CONTINUE!"

The eastern wall to the throne room explodes, revealing Prince Peasley on his knee, exhausted and panting from fighting the Bowser marionette. A gloved hand holding a marionette cross emerges from the shadows produced by the moonlight shining on perfectly placed rubble. A flicking motion from the pinky strikes the cross.

"Peasley, my boy, we can make this less painful if you just surrender peacefully," a voice calls out from the shadows, clearly being the Master's. His evil red eyes shimmer in the darkness that veils his body as he continues, "Or resist and become my toy's first victim. Of course, you'll still be an inch from dying."

The Bowser puppet lunges at the Beanish prince with multiple claw strikes, who in turn defends masterfully with his silver rapier. A deeper interest begins to slowly overtake the Master, who retaliates by better handling of the marionette cross. The Bowser puppet crosses his arms at the wrist and swipes his arms both ways, sending Peasley's weapon at the intact western wall, inserting it tightly between two firmly pressed slabs.

"_What to do, what to do?"_ thought the Beanish prince, _"I can't play King Arthur while I fight a dragon… or rather, two."_

"So, what will it be, Beanish peasant?" inquired the Master, "Surrender by will or force?"

"As if I will succumb to the likes of you!" exclaims Prince Peasley with authoritative defiance, ignoring the insult, "My people fought 'til the end to stop you and your fiendish ways. And as their prince, so shall I, and I'll stop you, even if it means death."

"Hmm… a death wish… Is that your final request? Well then…AS YOU WISH, MORON!" The Master flicks his wrist violently down and up once, causing a combined aura similar to that of a Goomba, a Koopa foot soldier, and a Paratroopa to radiate from the gigantic puppet body.

Similarly, the Beanish prince emits a green glow, causing the Master's red eyes grow in excitement, as if wanting to witness such a move. All cuts, bruises and fatigue completely disappeared from Peasley's body, and the prince crouches. In a blinding move, he kicks off both of the puppet's arms. The Master claps.

"Bravo, my Beanish foe, just the cat's meow. I wanted to confirm if you possessed the long lost regenerative ability of the royal Beanish family, and to my surprise, no, my correct assumption, you get a good adrenaline rush for a few moments. But tell me, with such a natural high, how low will be the fall?" Another gloved hand emerges from the shadows and presses part of the marionette cross with the palm.

The Bowser puppet's head, legs, and tail retract into the wooden Koopa shell. The shell spins, forming a nauseating violet tornado and launches at the young monarch. Peasley tries to dodge, but his legs lock into place and the rest of the body suffers a fatigue paralysis. _Smack!_ goes the shell on the prince, sending him flying onto some debris close by. The puppet sprouts wings as the retracted body parts emerge, and dives a kick into the dizzy prince's abdomen, causing the prince to cough out blood.

Although the world for Prince Peasley looked no better than a spinning blur, he is still rational amidst his confusion. _"That has to be Bowser, that puppet there; those are definitely his terrifying eyes. And those extra powers… they can't be his! These guys… What do they want?"_ His body shook violently as he regurgitates more blood.

A ringtone of a device more advanced than a Smartphone interrupts his thoughts; the Master nonchalantly goes to respond this telecommunicator as he flicks his free hand still holding a marionette cross. The flying puppet loses its wings and headbonks the prince once, rendering him unconscious. It then falls lifeless next to the Beanish prince, who no longer occupies the Master's attention, all while the Koopalings present at the ruins and some of the cloaked minions barge in.

A creepy, deep voice comes from the device, "Kiss me, I'm Irish."

"Stop using the code, Lemmy. What's new?"

"With a little… persuasion, Don Pianta and Ishnail agreed to ally with us. Since you needed boats for our next big move, I told them to set sail for the Same-Same Kingdom A.S.A.P. Pianta is sending his secret service to assist us in Glitzville in case something goes bad."

"Good, good. And you Ludwig, what are you thinking?"

"Not much," lied Ludwig.

Lemmy continues, "The book you wanted is up for grabs in the tournament. Roy'll love to test his strength, and if he is defeated, Larry can nab it. What d'ya say?"

"Not a bad idea, I must say," replies the Master, as Wendy, Iggy and Roy look over Prince Peasley. "Let's meet at the base in max 5 hours. I got Peasley, so get me the fruit and the other sacrifices, pronto."

"That's so not fair! Why does the Master get to keep that hunky Peasley to himself?" complained Wendy, admiring the injured but still handsome prince. "I want to have him in my room, and have tea, and he'll take me to a moonlit hill, and…"

"HE, HE! SOMEONE BETTER LOOKING THAN PINK BALDY-LOCKS HERE!" screeched Iggy, his natural personality completely overbearing for almost everyone there.

"Hey, Meister! That foo' Iggy be tripping, yo. Betta put that homeboy in check befo' I fix his grill, dawg."

"Oh, I will, Roy," said the Master as he hung up, "I need someone who can absorb Peasley into the puppet. But I'll deal with that later. How about you and Larry go and fight some more at Glitzville? "

Roy smugly smirks and cracks his fists as his shades twinkle. "Fo' shizzle. Hey shorty, where y'at?" No response. Roy scowls while banging the wall, making a booming echo resonate across the desolate ruins. "Yo squirt! Get yo' greedy butt over here!"

Larry rushed there along his personal nabbits and bandits. "Dang, Roy! What the Underwhere do you want? Can't you see I am getting richer?"

"We iz gots a job. Drop the dough and let's dip."

Larry smirks. "What if I told you there's a gold covered, manly, pink throne in a tower somewhere?"

Roy was walking away, until that makes him stop. He slowly turns and lowers his shades. "Say wut?"

As everyone else face faults, the Master face palms just as Slyklyde arrives flying down and retracts his wyvern wings into his serpentine body. "I better send someone else."

**Location:** Mountain range in western Desert Hill

Yoshi clasps his chin as he inspects the crags. Geno interrupts his meditation.

"Everything okay, Yoshi?"

"Hmm… Last time I went over mountains, I used the power of some vitamins that Professor E. Gad gave me. They may help us out again."

Geno managed to take the brown glass jar and the manual without releasing the other contents. He inspects it and quickly scans the booklet. "I see… these grant temporarily the powers specific to the Yoshis. Flight, glowing, blimp…"

Yoshi gets excited once more as if being near cookies, flailing his arms about. "That's it! I used that one, a light blue pill!"

Geno raises his hand and calmly argues, "Jerk in your chain chomp, there. These things may be life savers in a pinch, but if I read correctly, the powers last about half an hour, and say we use this blimp power. You were by yourself that time; now we're four. I can propel myself just fine with my gun power, but you have to carry a heavy Koopaling and a princess, and who knows how long it will take you to get to the top."

Yoshi is obviously disappointed as Daisy cries, "So, what now, Gee?"

Geno opens the jar, and pours a few vitamins in his hand, using his finger torch to discern the colors. He picks a purple one and puts the others away. "This grape one, which is genius. All the bubble powers that transform you into a vehicle or tool were sealed inside this pill. I didn't see many of these, so just letting you know that."

"Hey, chumps! You're talking too much!" snapped Morton Jr., "Let's see that thing already!"

The wind howls again amidst the group's silence. They stare at the dark skinned Koopaling as he retorted, "What, chumps?"

One awkward silence later, Geno picks up Stuffwell 2.0, while Yoshi eats the unknown purple vitamin. But nothing happens.

"What the hay?" Daisy blurts out.

"I feared it was a placebo," added Geno.

Morton joins in, "It's not made of hay, or plessie, or a boo. How can anything be made out of a boo? They're just floating bags with slurppy tongues. You green donkeys have slurpy tongues too, and eat fruit. But some of it is poison so…." Morton's eyes widen; he runs toward Yoshi and starts smacking Yoshi across his back. "Chump, that's poison! Spititoutspititoutspititoutspititout!"

When Yoshi felt he was going to be split in two, he burps out some bubbles and writhes in pain on the ground. "ImgonnakillyouImgonnakillyouImgonnakillyou!" repeated Yoshi as Morton and Daisy watched him squirm on the floor. Geno grabs a bubble containing a helicopter.

"Hmm… I can't pop it. It must be sensitive to Yoshies only. Here, Yosh."

After tossing the bubble, it bounces off Morton's belly onto Yoshi and pops.

_[A transformation sequence ensues where Yoshi floats up and slowly morphs into a helicopter about 1.5 times the size of Morton.]_

Yoshi tries flying but crashes on the first try. It takes him about three minutes to get used to flying properly, and once he did, he whizzed to and fro, forgetting the task at hand. Geno had to stop him.

"Yosh! We don't have time to fool around. I'll save the extra bubble inside the gun barrel inside my left elbow. Can you carry Daisy and Morton."

"This is fuuuun!" exclaims Yoshi, zipping by with a loop-de-loop, "It's been years since the last time I transformed!" He stops and lands near the other three. "But, you're right," he adds, a bit disappointed, "Besides, we need to get to the Same-Same Kingdom soon, and we need Johnny to get there."

"Same-Same? Does such a place exist?" asks Geno, but he holds up his right hand, "We can talk later. Let's do this!"

Yoshi floats aloft, permitting Morton to hold onto the copter rails on the bottom. Daisy holds onto the Koopalings neck with a loose but firm hug. Geno propels himself with his secret guns inside his shoes, while holding onto Stuffwell 2.0 with his left hand.

"This would be so much easier if you weren't fat," strained Yoshi, his copter face getting a slight blush from forcing himself a bit.

"Watch it, chump," retorted the Koopaling, "I'm only big boned!"

"Yay, we're flying again!" yelled Daisy, as Geno rose along with Yoshi, at his medium pace.

"These mounts aren't short, but I'm sure we won't need more than 20 minutes. Let's get going."

Those minutes transpire, and they almost reach the sand on the other side when the transformation expires, popping Yoshi back to normal. Morton still held onto Yoshi's legs and Daisy hugs onto them as well. All three scream their lungs out as Geno watches them plummet quickly. A sand plume splashes upward; Yoshi gets sandwiched between the princess and the Koopaling, who is dizzy from the fall's shock. Daisy gets of her dinosaur friend.

"ImgonnakillyouImgonnakillyouImgonnakillyou!" repeated Yoshi as squirms on the sand again, spike marks pressed on his belly and nose. Geno floats down and releases more bubbles from his elbow. He finds a bubble containing a Jeep-looking vehicle, promptly giving it to Yoshi .

"Ah, this car one looks good," he says, "Hope it has good traction in the sand. And no playing around this time, Yosh." He puts the other bubbles away.

Another transformation sequence later, the three drove Yoshi (or rather, he drove them) as fast as they could to a building to the distance. Although it seemed small, the fact it could still be seen made an enormous size plausible. Excitement filled the air, but the four knew that they would be entering a danger zone, with a large chance of never coming out to see the sun again.

-o-

**Next up: a 5-hour countdown begins! Will Johnny be rescued in time?**


	22. Knocking at the Gates of a Hellhole

**_The Mushroom Kingdom is a riot. Beanbean is no more. Bowser's reign over the Kooopa Darklands has come to an end. With the invasion of a mysterious being that has an unknown agenda, and the pirate Johnny indirectly holding the thread of worldwide stability, safety is becoming a thing of the past. The countdown of keeping safety for a while longer or unleashing full-on chaos begins…_**

**Heroes**

**Yoshi, Daisy, Morton Jr., Geno:** their main objective is to get to the unknown Same-Same Kingdom. Jonathan Jones is key to that.

**Enemies**

**The Master**- expert puppet master, has his eyes on the shark pirate as well

**Ludwig von Koopa**- the strongest of the Koopalings, finally using his intelligence to its fullest potential

**Lemmy Koopa****- **unquestioning follower of the Master

**Hitatsu and Draco**- the bounty hunting pair of Fire Bros., still in search of the desert bubble fruit

**Knocking at the Gates of a Hellhole**

**Location:** Poshley Heights

Dawn is breaking, as a round shadow flies upwards from Poshley Heights, hastily making its way toward the vast desert kingdom. Lemmy is driving the Clown Car, as Ludwig calls the Master again through their telecommunicator. After a few rings, someone picks up. A gum-chewing, valley girl voice answers.

"J.C. Penny; La-Fawn-Duh speaking."

"Kiss me, I'm Irish," replies Ludwig in a sarcastically deadpan voice.

"I'm sorry, but we don't operate a kissing hotline in Gaelic. Care to call back later?"

"Wendy…"

"Whatever, you uptight loser. I was just kidding. I do love kissing Irish guys…"

Ludwig's vein on his brow begins to bulge. "I SHAN'T WASTE MY TIME ON YOUR ADOLESCENT PRATTLE! HAND ME OVER TO W… uh, THE MASTER, NOW!"

"Fine, Mr. Bourgeois Pants. Sheesh!"

The Master replies as Iggy rants something about farts and beans in the background with some degree of struggle, to which Ludwig concluded that he was in a straitjacket.

"I assume you are on your way, Ludwig?"

"Naturally. If my calculation fail me not, as they continuously do not, we shall land at the penitentiary in 5 hours, plus or minus a couple minutes."

"Excellent, as a matter of fact, we will arrive at the lair in 5 hours as well. Once we get Johnny and that fire bro., the Bowser marionette will be the ultimate of all weapons. And that bubble fruit will unleash its fullest potential if combined with the book, which I am sure Roy will get for us easily."

The Master continues, "You are our greatest asset. It prides me to have you serve as one of my most trusted subordinates…"

Such an utterance struck a dissonance in Ludwig's mind, for it reminded him of something Bowser told him in their first conquest of the Mushroom realms, before Bowser Jr. came into his life. An ephemeral heartache and a bitter revenge fought one another as more memories poured from his soul, until this internal madness got interrupted by…

"Ludwig, answer me! Can you make sure that at least one of you brings back our victims and the fruit?"

Ludwig pops back to reality. "Um, uh, ah… ye-yes. We shan't be an utter disappointment and thus shall succeed in our mission." He hangs up.

Lemmy puts the Clown Car on autopilot and swerves his chair towards Ludwig. He leans back slightly as he places his hands behind his neck and grins maliciously. Lemmy begins his inquiry, to which Ludwig glares back, not being used to his brother having a malicious deep voice, instead of his normal, jovial, child-like voice.

"So, Mr. Smarts, what's the dilly?"

Ludwig looks back at his brother. "The **plan** is straightforward: we gather the sacrifices and the fruit, we demolish everything, and we rendezvous back to the lair. And before you ask, yes, violence is authorized."

"5 hours is a long time, but it don't matter," replies the mini Koopaling, "I'll be getting what pleases me anyway." And thus, they speed closer to Desert Hill.

**Location:** Sand dune near the gate of the prison in Desert Hill

**Time left:** 4 hours, 57 minutes

Yoshi, who had transformed into a Jeep, speeds through the desert, as everyone else, dressed in ninja outfits, wait anxiously for the ride to stop. Morton had fallen asleep, mumbling about farts and beans, when his snot bubble pops and wakes up. Geno has Yoshi stop, who break-stops on a dune about a quarter mile north of the main gate. Daisy and Geno get off right before the Yoshi reverts to his normal reptilian self in a ninja suit. Morton didn't get off on time, squishing Yoshi into the sand. Geno lies down on the sand as a breeze blows some sand across the evening sky. Daisy soon joins, followed by Morton, who peels off Yoshi from his corrugated Koopaling belly.

Like any fortress guarding dangerous prisoners, pairs of rugged looking Toads and doogans patrolled the visible area every few moments. Spotlights illuminated the plane, revealing the hundreds of pairs of guards that composed this desert legion, and guards viewed the horizons in well equipped watch towers. Occasionally, there was a different creature such as clubba and a cactus looking pianta, but were a scant minority. Only the tall dune where our heroes lay was within the infinitesimally, narrow blind spot. Geno surveyed as far as his glassy eye could, but clearly saw every nick and cranny well guarded, especially the entrance.

He turns to the gang. "Guess the show ends here. I can't seem to find a way in."

"We can fart our way in, chumps," exclaimed Morton.

"We had enough farts out of you, Tubbs," retorted Yoshi, still feeling pain all over. Morton shoots a dirty look at his dinosaur ally, but Daisy quickly interjects before Morton could speak.

"You can all hide under my dress!" she gleefully exclaimed, as she flailed her hands into the air. The wind howled as the three others stare at the princess silently.

"Um, uh, okay," replies Geno, "But the issue is… um, uh…" He stares nervously of to the sides. "You aren't wearing a dress. You're…"

"A ninja? Yeah, he, he, about that…"

She tears off the ninja suit revealing her usual royal gown, nicely pressed and smelling fresh, like daisy scented fabric softener. The three were even more dumbfounded.

"I would ask you how you fit your dress under the ninja suit," started Geno as he points his right index at her, "But we don't have time for a backstory. And I just got an idea. Huddle around."

_Ten minutes pass…_

Daisy slowly and somewhat clumsily approaches the main entrance of the well guarded fortress jail. Spot lights center on her, stopping her dead in her track and causing her to shield her eyes from the piercing lights. A small group of soldiers approach her, mostly doogans who looked quite burly, even with all of the equipment on.

"State your name and purpose. We may have to send you back to the pyramid town, depending on your answer."

After a few seconds, Daisy recovers properly from the light, and responds in a way not many would expect. "Greetings, honorable soldiers, you're in the presence of Sarasaland's reigning monarch, Princess Daisy."

A muffled snort followed by a quiet slap came from under her royal gown. Some of the soldiers heard it, but seeing as only Daisy was there, thought nothing of it.

"Our apologies, your highness," responded one of the deeper voices doogans, who had an epaulet on his left arm, signifying his higher rank, "but we have been in high alert since we have two bounty hunters on our premises, and we heard a report from the castle's pyramid town indicating the presence of that fiend that took over our great kingdom years back."

Daisy got a bit flustered at them mentioning Morton Jr., but diplomatically continues, "Um, but I, uh… **Heard!** About a certain wanted man, held within these walls. I wish to talk to him."

Another doogan, one with a camouflage pattern painted on his furry face, replies, "You mean that pirate shark? He is so far inside, we don't need to guard him; we just make sure no one suspicious enters…"

The higher ranked doogan suddenly points an Ice flower-powered gun at the princess, who response by extending her arms defensively forward.

"If you're the real princess of Sarasaland, I apologize for my hostility. But how do we know you're the real princess, since cosplaying as Daisy is very popular on today's festival? Why are you here alone and how did you get here?"

"I, uh, um…" she stammered, beginning to break a sweat, "Came on my 'copter, but my pilot crashed near, um, Bago's, and a… vehicle, drove me from the festival and dropped me off close by, and, uh, I came here to see the shark."

"I am still not convinced. Something feels off." The doogan officer walks around Daisy and 'inspects' her, making her feel queasier. "Do you have a warrant to see him?"

"Does royalty need permission? I **am** allied to this kingdom's mother kingdom, the Mushroom Kingdom."

"I suppose. Hmm… How can you prove you are you?" He clasps his chin, still checking her out.

She blurts out the first thing that came to her mind. "I can play tennis!"

The doogan officer smiles, and tells his group, "Interesting. Soldiers! Clear the changing rooms near the central square and set up the nets and gear on the square. I heard that the princess is quite the tennis player. I may be a bit rusty, but I was once a formidable player back in high school. I'll escort the princess there myself so she can change comfortably. Although, I will be at your beck and call if anything unpleasant should arise in there." He winks his right eye.

Daisy stares him down, understanding his lascivious intent. But she nervously smiles back. "I'll be… fine, by myself."

As the soldiers go ahead, the doogan officer holds out his arm like a gentleman, and slowly guides the princess to the changing room rather slowly, like if he wanted to show off to the stationed cavalry members his "new partner."

Soon they arrive at said room, devoid of anyone but Daisy and the officer. He kisses her hand and with an alluring façade, he walks out. She goes to the door and hears his footsteps get quieter and distant. She sighs and relaxes her body, and lifts her left leg in a somewhat vulgar manner, letting Yoshi out from under her dress. He is holding Stuffwell 2.0 in his left arm and fall on the floor bum first, being tense from the ordeal also.

"Luckily, you pulled this off, sound princessy and all. That was hilarious! I just hope Geno is doing fine out there."

Daisy is frantically wiping her kissed hand on her dress as she replies to her dino friend, "That was gross! And did you smell his nasty breath?"

Yoshi chuckles. "Can't blame you there."

"So can you and Morty do your thing?"

"Mor… Oh right! We stuffed him inside Stuffwell, so we wouldn't get caught by his blabbering." Yoshi opens the suitcase, and out Morton Jr. pops out, having gotten a beating from the four ostros previously stashed inside. "Whoa! If you can't walk, I can put you back inside…"

"No way, chump! You go in. Or even better…"

Yoshi covers the Koopaling's mouth. "We don't have time for a backstory. Save it for a campfire."

Daisy shows them a pair of camouflage plants, white shirt and black boots. "They gave me this outfit for the tennis thing I got. I distract them, while you two free Johnny, 'kay?" Daisy pulls on Yoshi's cheek, accidentally pulling too hard, making him want to yell, but Morton covers the dinosaur's mouth in time while angrily staring at him.

Daisy continues, "Oh, and lookie here! There is a map of the place, here, on the wall."

Yoshi looks over as he rubs his cheek. "Hmm… There! The prison tank. I promise we won't get caught."

"Hurry then, Yosh. I need to change, and we need to get Johnny out."

With this rather too short of a reunion abruptly ending, Yoshi finds an AC vent small enough for him, so he and Daisy stuff Morton back inside Stuffwell 2.0, and Yoshi went his way. However, he didn't really know how he was going to make it to the tank room where Johnny was in, nor realized this predicament he thrust himself to…

**Location:** Inside the prison, in an unknown passage…

"I tell you, Hitatsu, I still have this weird gut feeling that we are getting blackmailed by this Slyklyde guy," said Draco the Fire Bro., as he and his partner in crime are walking back into the prison from the cavern they just surveyed. "I mean, just the word 'sly' gives it away, right?"

"Let me guess," began Hitatsu, "What do dudes there days call it? Ah, yes! Women's intuition, right?" he grabs Draco by the shoulders and shakes him violently. "Dude, you've had your panties in a bunch since we got here. Ain't no one blackmailing me. Get that though your thick skull, dude."

"The thing is… this is the first time I really have been itching about this whole ordeal. What if we end up missing too, like those kids Kooper and Goombario we saw on the milk cartoon yesterday? And what about the new Postmaster, eh? Heard he got replaced by that clumsy newbie, Parakarry 2, or whatever his name was. No trace of his body anywhere but a few burnt feathers. And with Mario and his friends gone…"

Hitatsu stops walking and looks at his partner in crime. "Oooooh! So you're actually a good dude, huh? A nagging dog that is all like 'fighting for justice' and that crap?"

Draco waves his hands, indicating a no. Swat drips from his brow as he nervously replies, "N-no, nothing like that."

Hitatsu gets face to face and looks intensely at Draco's eyes. "Listen to me, dude. We may not be good dudes, but I could care less whatever the Underwhere these Koopaling and their dudes are doin', and. After we finish here, we dip. Another gold brick in the bag, as they say. Now hurry your tail. We are going back to the warden's office near Johnny's tank. Speaking about dippin', how about we nab the sharko and leave when we get the chance, eh, dude?"

"I guess…" The Fire Bro. pair hastens their pace toward Johnny's tank.

-o-

**Finally! A new chapter after so long of not uploading something for almost a year! I will post two chappys today for your reading pleasure. However... **

**Oh noes! Daisy is getting harassed by a pervy doogan officer; Yoshi and Morton are heading to the same place as the Fire Bro. duo, and where in the Mushroom World is Geno? (May feel slightly rushed…)**

**Next chapter, we break from the current storyline, to a minor comic relief that takes place concurrently. We continue the story in two chapters.**


	23. Castle Calamity Adventures 1

**Castle Calamity Adventures 1**

**A/N: Every so often, a small update of what is transpiring at Peach's Castle will interrupt the main plot. These mini episodes will be the ****_Castle Calamity Adventures_****.**

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><p>-o-<p>

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><p><em>A bad, many days have passed since my mistress has been gone. If it was Bowser's doing, Mario and his good friends would have already foiled his current plot by now. But, clearly this isn't how he does things. Usually he is straight forward and forcibly kidnaps milady from her quarters, Mario following his tail to his Darklands. But this time it was very different; it is extremely disconcerting. Not only have Mario, Luigi, and even Toad been kidnapped, I hear that Goombario, Kooper and the new Postmaster are captured as well. I still haven't heard from Yoshi, only from my good friend, the Chancellor of Sarasaland. I heard that he's got Daisy's company, and also from that obese Koopaling. Weird, how's he not with the other 6? What purpose does he have going against his siblings? Usually, the enemy turns a new leaf when he has to forcibly ally himself to a foe, when an even greater menace has the safety of the world at stake, like that Smithy fellow. But I digress.<em>

_Here I am, sitting in a dark loft with a dim candle lighting its dark confinement. I am waiting until we run out of rations and these crazed Toads finally break down the castle doors. With them past the torn down gate that secured the castle, I can only think of what I do know. The unsigned note… mentioning the objective of that fiend, of all nerve! But so true. Seeing my people savagely riot and plunder outside the castle doors, destroying century-old artifacts and buildings, I can sadly witness how more and more, my people are more akin to the barbaric kind of Rougeport, or the pirate-run Seaside Village, located miles to the west coast. It is as if all good and generosity a Toad is known for has simply vanished, and I can't think of anything that can cause that but a strong spell of some sort. Our two helpers that tried to protect us, despite being visitors, failed against them, and now we doomed, just like our fallen alles of Beanbean. If that is the conquering this fiend wanted to pursue, he has certainly succeeded. I just hope we can somehow tear away at his plans._

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><p><strong>[RRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!]<strong>

"Gracious!" yells a startled Toadsworth, as a large white gloved hand tears the page Toadsworth had been writing on. He turns left, with a dripping quill on his right hand, and sees Wario picking his nose.

"I beg your pardon, Master Wario!"

He scratched his behind as he belched, letting out a smelly flatulence soon after. "Wah! We ran out of toilet paper, wah!" Wario leaves to the restroom, as Donkey Kong barges in, Professor E. Gad soon running in after the famous gorilla.

"My, my," said the professor as he grabbed a nearby chair, sporting his goofy smiles, but his face and lab coat is impregnated with soot. "This gorilla is surely a bad lab assistant. We should have left him with the rest of the castle guards stationed at the gate."

"But we're all inside too, teach," declared one of the more hipsterish Toad guards. "But we secured the front door good. Ain't nobody gonna bust in here… Or leave."

"Good thing we have that secret entrance toward the Post Office," replied E. Gad, "I just hope poor Paraklutz isn't too overwhelmed by the townsfolk."

The same guard replies nonchalantly, "Don't you worry, teach. With him as Postmaster, you can bet that ain't nobody gonna know what a letter is by the end of the month."

The professor giggles nervously. "Unfortunately. But enough about that! I have an amazing discovery to tell the Chancellor."

Toadsworth walks out of his dark loft. "By the power of Eldstar, E. Gad, what is it that you discovered?"

"Chancellor, just so you won't get your hopes up, I haven't discovered the enemy's hideout, nor the location of the kidnapped subjects, but rummaging through the ancient books in the library, I discovered a map and an encyclopedia of rare, ancient items."

E. Gad shows him a very old map of the Mushroom World, showing every location of the current political powers that have lasted since then, and a few other things. It seems to be written in an archaic form of the Mushroom Kingdom's current language. Although the older form is not very clear on certain bits, it is still understandable.

As the Chancellor examines the map, the professor continues, "I believe this map and encyclopedia may be very helpful for our friends. I hear they need to go to Same-Same, and here it is. Past this storm belt at the equator, south of the tropical islands."

He points at an underwater kingdom situated in the lower hemisphere of the map, seemingly inside a dome or bubble, at a location far lower from a thin, white line, which is a bit lower than the DK Isles and nearby islands.

"And here is another Koopa kingdom, the Ryu-Kuppa Kingdom, situated on Mushroom mangroves a few nautical miles north." He points at mature, tall mushroom mangroves rising from the ocean, with some mountains and lakes even on top of these 'shrooms.

"There are a few more things about these realms I'd like to discuss, but look at this." He points at a landmass, too big to be an island, but not as massive as a continent. Nevertheless, it is labeled _**Doogan Continent**_, and it formed a sea triangle with the other two nations. "This place… I have not found anything about this place in any history or geography books of these times. Although, I did catch a glimpse of this place on a legends book… Seemed like a place of lore. Something about a colossal blooper that sunk the entire continent, thereby sending itself to an eternal slumber, and displacing the doogans all over the world for eons.

"Seriously, I never thought this place could really exist, but this book is trilingual. The extinct Doogan language, our old Mushroom speak, and the old but still alive Shyguy language. I was able to read some of it, and probably you could too, seeing as we both are well versed in the ancient Mushroom speak. If only Russ T. wasn't still abroad in his vacation, we could get more insight with the Shyguy parts. But even with his help, we will never be able to decipher the Doogan text. At least fifty percent of this book is written in that language, and the lengthier explanations are in that language."

"Oh my. Professor, we sure are in a pickle, aren't we?" asked Toadsworth, as he began pacing to and fro while fiddling with his moustache.

"Yes we are. Whoever was this… let's see, who was the author again? Ah! Bernard Fox. He was an amazingly brilliant Doogan man. And this is only the first volume. Quite a read, if you ask me."

Toadsworth looks at E. Gad again, but is just noticing the filth covering the goofy looking instructor. "Professor, why are you covered in soot?"

"Oh, that… He, he. You see, as I was trying to decipher the ancient text, and failing if I may add, my screensaver displayed a picture of a banana on the screen. DK was swinging in the room when he saw it. He punched its lights out… literally."

"DK want banana," replied the gorilla in a red tie. Nobody seemed to care if he spoke in a stilted manner.

"Yes, I'll be sure to order some with Paraklutz along with a new computer," responded Toadsworth, "I just hope he won't lose the note."

Unbeknownst to everyone inside, a cloaked shadow perched on a balcony, which led the present room. A click from the glass door opening from the outside, caused an utter silence to fall in the room, the attention of everyone in the room now focused on the newcomer. He enters and faces the Chancellor, making the Toad guards rush in front of him, ready for a confrontation.

"Mister Toadsworth, I presume?"

"By the stars above, how did you fly up here, you wingless trespasser?"

"As I suspected, nothing escapes you." This character proceeds to taking of his cloak, a dark gray robe. "I came to chat peacefully, before I resume my journey to the Nimbus Land fighting tournament. I understand it is of bad manners to eaves drop on a private conversation, but yours has piqued my interest."

The room is silences again. A flushing sound is heard from a close distance within the castle, and soon after Wario walks in. He sees the newcomer, but is indifferent toward him. He walks away toward the kitchen as he scratches his posterior and emits a raunchy flatulence.

"Do you intend to harm us, sir?" inquired the professor.

This being is still shadowed out due to the glare of the rising sun, so despite the cloak is on the carpet, his true identity is still unknown. He chuckles. "That'll depend on the course of action you take, for or against me."

-o-

**Lots of new info! Even so, we have a newcomer with an unknown purpose. Will he be an ally, or the Master's messenger? Next time: Our story resumes where it left off!**


End file.
